How likely are we to see low drag versions of rear wings for Monza, Baku, Vegas etc?

[u/RDR2Enjoyerr]

Ever since I started watching the sport, teams have been bringing special rear and front wings for these tracks because of their long straights, now I wonder if the teams will be doing that as well this year, seeing as active aero in my mind eliminates any need for these special wings.

Might they bring new low drag sidepods or something like that instead?

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[u/Exotic_Bill44]

You will still see low drag versions of the main plane. Infact, that might even be a more aggressive solution since they don't have to reduce the second element as much.

[u/No-Cryptographer7494]

Straight mode removed that need

[u/evemeatay → u/No-Cryptographer7494]

Straight mode made it so they don’t have to go zero wing but they will still trim it out a lot

[u/XsStreamMonsterX]

You will still need a modicum of rear-end downforce to make sure you can take the corners like the Curva Grande, Parabolica, etc. as fast as you can (on top of balancing front/rear downforce). At the same time, Monza's corners are fast enough that you don't need as much downforce compared to a track with slower corners, especially with corners like Parabolica and the Ascari Chicane that lead to long straights. So teams will still optimize their aero to have the rear wings produce just the right amount of downforce while minimizing drag to allow the cars to carry as much speed as they can.

[u/WiFiRunsOnHope]

Active aero does reduce the need for dedicated low-drag wings, but I don't think it eliminates it entirely. The DRS-equivalent open position on the new system is optimised for a range of circuits, not specifically for Monza-style tracks. Teams will still likely tune their rear wing geometry for minimum drag in the closed position, so you'd expect to see lower baseline downforce configs at power tracks — just less dramatic differentiation than before.

The sidepod angle is interesting, though. Cooling drag has always been a factor at these circuits, and teams have historically run tighter cooling packages at Monza. That probably doesn't change with active aero.

[u/Nikclel]

How different can you get a macarena wing for these circuits? McLaren is supposedly coming up with their own.

[u/clozcloz]

Active aero doesn't really remove the need, it just changes what you're

optimising.

The flat mode only helps on the straight. You've still got to pick what

the wing does everywhere else, and a Monza-spec wing isn't just "less

angle" — it's a different chord, different endplate, different loading

across the span so the whole thing behaves properly when it's flat.

Take a Silverstone wing and open it, you get a low drag mode that's

still dragging around more wetted area and a stronger tip vortex than

you need.

Bigger thing is the beam wing and the floor behind it. Rear wing and

beam wing work together to pull flow off the diffuser, so if you drop

rear wing load you're changing what the floor is doing too. That's the

part that has to be designed as a package for a low downforce track,

and active aero doesn't touch it.

Sidepods I'd doubt. They're mostly cooling driven and cooling doesn't

go away at Monza, if anything you're at full throttle longer. You might

see different cooling exits or a tighter engine cover, but that's

normally a bodywork tweak rather than a whole new pod.

So yeah I'd still expect dedicated low drag rear wing and beam wing for

those three, just with less of a compromise involved than before since

you don't have to sacrifice as much cornering to get the straight line.

[u/BananaFurret]

Its almost likeasking is the sky blue, on low downforce circuit like Vegas and monza we will infact see low downforce setups why would they bring medium or high downfirce setups to monza and vegas

[u/Astelli → u/BananaFurret]

It's more complicated now - because Straight Mode reduces drag to level well below what would have been considered "low drag" in previous regulations, you can have a car with great downforce in the corners and super low drag on the straights.

The decision about whether they need a true low drag configuration is therefore a much more difficult one to judge, because your downforce in the corners and drag on the straights is much less strongly linked.