Ferrari tested different variations of wheel covers on its Formula 1 cars at Fiorano on Thursday in an attempt to solve the series’ ongoing wet-weather visibility dilemma. While some of Formula 1’s most memorable performances took place in the rain, races can be called off if there’s too much water on the track. Sessions can be halted because drivers can’t see a car directly ahead of them, even if there isn’t enough standing water on the track surface for a car to hydroplane.
The FIA organized the test to continue its ongoing wheel cover research. Last year, the governing body tested minimalist spray guards that shielded the back of each tire and left the rest of the wheel exposed. To no one’s surprise, these covers had little to no effect. The FIA has now gone in the opposite direction with a cover that completely shrouds the wheel and a spoked cover that only shrouds the tread.
Ferrari test drivers Arthur Leclerc and Oliver Bearman were tasked with lapping the wet track. Leclerc, Charles’s brother, drove the modified car while Bearman followed behind to evaluate visibility. The team sent the car in several runs with different combinations of wheel covers, mixing fully shrouded and spoked covers as well as leaving the front tires exposed.
The photos from the test show that the covers reduce the spray kicked up by the Ferrari. However, there’s still a significant plume shooting out of the rear. It would be ridiculous to expect any solution to eliminate the spray entirely, especially with this generation of ground-effect F1 cars. The initial test at Silverstone showed that the shaped floors themselves produce a lot of spray on their own and there’s no way to block the air forced under the car. Only time will tell if F1 thinks wheel covers are a viable visibility solution.