Jun.10 (GMM)  Several more races could pass before Red Bull is ready to race a McLaren-style F-duct system.

The Austrian team tested an early prototype of the downforce-stalling concept during the practice sessions in Turkey, but it is believed the F-duct will not re-appear at all this weekend in Montreal.

According to Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat, the subsequent Valencia and Silverstone rounds might also pass without a race-able version of the F-duct fitted to Mark Webber or Sebastian Vettel’s RB6 cars.

The report said the German round at Hockenheim could be the earliest possible qualifying and race debut for the Red Bull F-duct.

Before then, new iterations of the Turkey-specification F-duct could be tested in practice as soon as the forthcoming European grand prix at Valencia late this month.

Red Bull has abandoned the F-duct innovation for the rest of the Turkish GP weekend.

Sebastian Vettel’s RB6 was fitted with the McLaren-style rear downforce stalling solution on Friday in Turkey, but although promising he also reported that it had not worked “100 per cent”.

According to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, the team has decided not to use its hand-activated system for qualifying and the race.

“There are undesirable side effects,” confirmed Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko. “We are going to check the data and try again in Montreal,” he added.

Meanwhile, it emerges that after Ferrari used a hand-activated system in Spain, it is believed the developed version in Turkey is controlled by the drivers’ left foot.

“We have solved the problems of Barcelona,” said Fernando Alonso, referring to the fact that downforce was also leaking in the corners. “Our system is not yet perfect. We need to keep working on it.”

It had been reported that Force India’s hand-activated F-duct test on Friday had been a success, but Adrian Sutil said the team still has “a lot to learn” about the concept.

(GMM)

Red Bull’s new F-duct system in Turkey did not function “100 per cent” on its Friday practice debut.

Sebastian Vettel’s RB6 was fitted with the McLaren-style innovation for the 180 minutes of practice, while teammate Mark Webber’s was not.

Vettel was the quicker of the pair in the morning, but even with his engine failure in the afternoon, Webber had sped up to be two tenths quicker by the end of Friday’s running.

When asked about the F-duct debut, 22-year-old Vettel said: “It did not work 100 per cent and still needs some fine-tuning.

“We will look at it again, but it looks promising,” he is quoted by Germany’s Motorsport-Magazin.com.

Vettel said he believes McLaren, fastest in both sessions, is taking a significant advantage from its F-duct on the Istanbul layout.

He therefore refused to confirm that Red Bull will not keep its initial prototype on the RB6 for qualifying and the race.

Vettel was also happy with his new chassis, after damage was found to its predecessor in the wake of the Spain/Monaco double-header, won by his teammate Webber.

“It feels more natural and it was a good step to make the change,” he said.

(GMM)

Mar.24 (GMM-YF1) According to rumours from the Melbourne pitlane on Wednesday, Sauber is ready to test an initial version of the controversial McLaren-style knee-activated air inlet system.

The innovation, where air is allowed to pass through the car and onto the rear wing by the movement of the drivers’ knee, was declared legal on McLaren’s MP4-25 in Bahrain two weeks ago.

Basically, the system works by ’stalling’ the efficiency of the downforce-producing rear wing, thereby producing more straight-line speed when the car is not cornering.

McLaren had spent some time pioneering the system, so it is a surprise that Sauber has so quickly readied a version for its Ferrari-powered C29.

It is believed the Swiss team has not decided whether to actually run the system in Melbourne this weekend.

Asked by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, technical boss Willy Rampf said: “Ask me (about it) on Friday.”

It is likely Mercedes will be among the next F1 teams to also introduce the inlet system.

“We had an idea that they (McLaren) were doing it — we didn’t understand how they were doing it,” said team boss Ross Brawn. “But now we do.”