Red Bull Racing has decided against running its F-duct for the remainder of the Turkish Grand Prix weekend after all.
The team ran its version of the rear wing stalling device for the first time in Friday morning's free practice session, and the early indications were that it had brought a performance benefit to the pace-setting RB6 cars of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel. The team wanted to wait until after close analysis of car data in the post-session debriefs, however, to decide whether the F-duct was actually worth sticking with. Following those meetings on Saturday night, the team has decided against running the F-duct for the rest of the event – and it will now likely re-appear during free practice for the next race in Canada.
It is believed that the team felt that although the F-duct did bring the required straight-line speed boost, there were compromises to the downforce of the car - and it was not working in a consistent enough manner to risk running it for qualifying and the race.
Red Bull Racing is already clear favorite for victory in Turkey, with or without the F-duct, and the downforce advantage that the RB6 enjoys over its rivals will likely still overcome any straight-line speed deficit it suffers to opposition like McLaren.Team principal Christian Horner said before the decision was made about not running the F-duct that his outfit would not risk upsetting its strong form
Ferrari noted after it ran its F-duct in Spain that there had been a downforce compromise from featuring the system on its car, but refinements have improved its version for this weekend in Turkey.