The fight against a spray plume is an extremely difficult task.

In the history of Great Britain there was such a king, Canute the Great, who reigned in the first quarter of the 11th century, and little reliable information has survived about him, but some legends have survived to this day well kept. In particular, in one of these legends it is said that he taught his subjects an important lesson: the royal power is not unlimited, it has no power over the forces of nature. And he demonstrated this with a fairly simple example: the tide is uncontrollable.

This legend was recalled by journalists from The Race, who analyzed the FIA’s attempts to develop a system that would solve the problem of a critical reduction in visibility on racetracks during rain due to a thick veil of splashing water inevitably thrown up by the wheels of cars.

Called the Wet Weather Package (or WWP, literally “wet weather package”), the FIA ​​started late last year; the idea is to develop standard protective fenders that can be mounted on machines in heavy rain.

Nicholas Tombasis, FIA’s director of single-seater racing, is already willing to admit that the task has proved more difficult than they anticipated. But the federation continues to look for a solution.

In itself, the effort to curb the forces of nature and find justice for the laws of physics is commendable. And if, despite this, it is possible to reduce the density of the spray veil by at least half, this is already a very significant achievement.

“We want to keep improving our sport,” Tombasis quotes The Race. – Initially, we assumed that the task would not be as difficult as it turned out, and I certainly hoped that we would find a solution very soon. But we still employ excellent specialists for us, so they should make even more effort.”

Work is already underway on the second version of the fenders and testing is likely to begin towards the end of the year. Research is currently being done using CFD technologies, but the task is not standard.

The patterns that affect airflow formation are well studied, but in this case we are talking about the amount of water such fenders must contain and somehow divert. According to Tombasis, it turned out that we are dealing with “quite complex physical processes”.

A separate task is how to reduce the veil of water lifted into the air by a diffuser. Racers believe that with the transition to a new generation of cars, the problem has only worsened – it is possible that this is a side effect of a more or less successful solution of other problems related to aerodynamics.

In addition, any additional elements (fenders in this case) will inevitably affect the efficiency of the car’s aerodynamic body kit and increase weight. This is a fact that must be taken into account, but it is necessary to ensure that this influence remains within certain acceptable limits.

If the solution proposed by the FIA ​​specialists improves visibility in critical weather conditions, but at the same time makes the behavior of the cars too unpredictable or even dangerous, then all this simply makes no sense. However, the federation is well aware of this, so they act without much haste.

Under the terms of the problem that the FIA ​​is trying to solve, there are a number of immutable – these are the laws of physics, the volume of water that must be somehow brought under control, as well as the basic parameters of the efficiency of machines that can only be influenced within very narrow limits. Taking into account the precepts of Cnut the Great, one should be aware that it is impossible to overcome the forces of nature.

But I also really want to find a more or less reasonable solution, because it is becoming increasingly difficult to race in heavy rain – the problem of poor visibility has now been added to the eternal problem of aquaplaning. And here only two scenarios are possible: a way out will be found, or the old norm that “the race will take place in any weather” will have to be completely revised.