F1 calls new rear wing 'game-changer': This should make overtaking easier

The main objective of the new aero regulations is to make the air flow in such a way that it does not interfere with the car behind it. The newly designed rear wing plays an important role in this, as well as in creating downforce.

New rear wing should improve airflow

However, the new rear wing does create less downforce as its predecessors. It contains two elements, as before, but the shape of the elements and the extent to which they are allowed to overlap will be more strictly controlled from 2022. Formula1.com explains how the renewed element is technically put together.

The new, very distinctive shape arises because those two elements form one continuous line, without sharp corners. Because the end plates can no longer shield the wing elements and must be flat, they can no longer prevent airflow from leaking over the surfaces of those elements and along the edge.

As a result, the elements - which depend on the pressure difference between the lower and upper surfaces for their operation - are less effective in creating downforce, but would greatly reduce the leakage of spinning air at the wing corners (where two separate airflows mix). As a result, the car behind should suffer less turbulence.