The conventional wisdom which says "take off the wings and let'em race, fixing everything", a view which none other that Roger Penske latched onto during his talk with Despain last week, is not valid.

There are two banes that arise in the grip department when cars run in close proximity; disruption of airflow over the front wing and disturbances in chassis df, both in force and location of maximum pressure (somewhat similiar to pitch sensitivity in effect). A related issue is the interaction of big, soft tires and sharp front wing endplates and fences.

Get away from band-aid solutions, F1's current configuration should be studied as to what NOT to do. Shortened rear wing width, pedestal-mounted huge front wings, and diffusers (for cripes sake diffusers!) made the racing worse. I couldn't believe my eyes when this year's F1 season began.

Focus attention towards smoothing and directing airflow DOWN towards the rear, move the wings back to the canard-type location of mid-90's superspeedway wings, mandate a flat bottom with radiused sidepods, and place the sidepod exits directly to the rear. Get rid of overdependence on chassis downforce. Enable the wings to work as well or better when trailing another car, and fatten up the rubber to make up for a lower aero df percentage.

Then the cars can RACE, TOUCH, PASS, and the drivers can DRIVE once again.
mokin: