At Assen, MotoGP's Grand 💯Prix Commission announced that aerodynamic winglets will be banned from 2017.

The downforce generated by winglets helps resist the natural tendency of a motorcycle to wheelie under acceleration, which means less use of a💫nti-wheelie electronics and more engine output.

However safety concerns have been raised about the possibility of injury if a winglet strikes a rider during an accident, while the downstream turbulence has caused some instability issues for followꦺing competitors.

All five manuf🎃acturers now have winglets available, in various stages of refinement, but the ruling means they cannot be used beyond the Valencia season finale.

Here we take a lꦅook at the factors leading up to the ban and why Ducati is angry at the decision.

A new era begins: Small winglets appear on Andrea Dovizioso's Ducati at the 2015 Qatar pre-season test.

Ducati debuted the latest generation of MotoGP winglets at the 2015 Qatar pre-se🌼ason test. The devices were modified during the season, while its ri🗹vals began playing catch-up behind closed doors.

Yamaha gave their winglets 🔴a grand prix debut at Misano in September, with Honda waiting until winter testing. Aprilia and Suzuki showed their designs at Jerez in April.

But by that time discussions were already underway about banning the dev𒆙ices.

"The alarm rang because in the Safety Commission the riders complained about them," MotoGP's director of technology Corrado Cecchinelli told ltxcn.top. "With this input from the riders, thꦏe FܫIM cannot just go on like nothing.

"They had to say 'ok, we have a complaint, so we have a concern. Which♌ doesn't mean an issue, but you manufacturers need to tell us we should not worry'. The manufacturers could not do that.♒"

By 2016 Ducati's winglets had become far more integrated, with several different specifications to suit different circuits. Here they are in maximum downforce configuration.

Given the safety concerns raised by the ride💎rs, plus the secondary issue of cost, the FIM had asked the manufacturers' association (MSMA) to draw up a unanimous proposal - agreed by all MotoGP manufacturers - for the fu🅺ture of winglets.

This proposal was expected to i🐈nclude aspects such as limits on the size, shape, location and materials, plus 🧔assurances over safe detachment in the event of an accident.

"The FIM asked MSMA to make a unanimous proposal; make them safe and officially accept them," Cecchinello confirmed. "They gave MSMA some time, which was extended until here [Assen]. But this proposal didn't come and so the Grand Pri�𒐪�x Commission decided to ban wings from next season."

Winglets on Marc Marquez's Honda

"It was impossible to reach an agreement with the other factories," Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi told ltxcn.top. "If the MSMA had reached a unanimous agreement and it went to the Grand Prix Commission, this proposal would h𝓡ave gone through. But not having a proposal, the Grand Prix Commission did what they thought was in the ꦜinterest of the championship [and banned wings]."

Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo was the first rider to win a MotoGP race using winglets, at the 2015 Valencia title showdown

It is clear that the only way winglets could continue in MotoGP was if the manufacturers reac𒅌hed unanimous agreement on a proposal.

But if there was no proposal - as turned out to be the case - the Grand ༺Prix Commission [FIM, Dorna, MSMA and IRTA] would hold a straight 'yes/no' vote on banningဣ the devices.

And if the manufacturers themselves couldn't confirm the🔴 safety of their winglets, via a unanimous proposal, there is no way the Commission would vote to keep them.

"The FIM were sꩲtarting from a position that was in favour of banning because of the safety concerns and cost issues," Cecchinelli said.

Aprilia winglets

The contr🦩oversy arises over whether all manufacturers were genuinely committed to reaching a wingleಞt agreement within the MSMA, and whether the main issue became performance rather than safety.

Given that the absence of a unanimously-backed MSMA proposal would trigger a vote on banning winglets in the Grand Prix C🍷ommission, any manufacturer(s) seeking such an outcome could simp꧒ly refuse to agree to a proposal.

"You have to ask them 🦋why they didn't want to reach an agreement. To me, the problem seems that it is not a matter of safety, as was the purpose at the beginning," Tardoz🎉zi said.

"I mean, after Argentina [where Ia𒅌nnone's wing made contact with Marquez at turn one] and all the discussion and complaints we proposed to have an agreement looking at the safety. We did a lot of work and brought a lot of documents to show what is safer, what is not safer.

"But in the end it seems that our work was for nothing. Because in thไe end everybody was looking at the performance, not at the safety. Then it was not anymore a matter to discuss about safety, but a matter to discuss about performance. That's something that we didn't appreciate."

Ducati Corse general manager Gigi Dall'Igna also suggested that the failure to reach a deal within the ൩MSMA had been motivated by a desire to neutralise Ducati's aerodynamic advantage:

"If things are not done correctly on a sporting level, I'm not a happy man. The motivation for the [ban on winglets] is being tied to safety, but winglets 168澳洲幸运5🌳官方开奖结果历史:have never been a problem in this respect.

"We have carried out indepe𝓀ndently certified studies and tes♈ts, including with technical suppliers. We made a reasoned, well thought out proposal, which had been shared by the Japanese [in the MSMA] - who then changed their mind on it.

"So this leaves me rather disconcerted💛. The Japanese believe Ducati has developed its bikes with winglets and for this reason they think we have an advantage with respect to them, who developed their winglets afterwards."

Tardozzi added: "It is a shame, obviously. Ducati brought something new to the championship, moving MotoGP forward through research and development. The proof that winglets work is that all the o😼ther factories have followed our idea.

"Technical development in MotoGP is good for the road bikes of the future. ღThat is the purpose of M൲otoGP.

"Obviously starting first, we think we are a bit ahead ❀of the others [with winglets]. Now we have to stop. In the end it is even a matter of [staff], because we hir▨ed engineers to work on winglets and now we are forced to cut."

Cecchinelli accepted that the process could be viewed as weighted in favour of any manufacturer💃(s) wanting to ban wings🗹, but explained the safety angle meant MotoGP had to insist on unanimous MSMA agreement.

"It is clear that in the presence of safety concerns - if not issues - the correct FIM p🌺osition is 'ok, they are banned as long as you don't do anything or tell me they are not dangerous'. This safety assurance didn't happen, and so 🌳to me the decision was correct.

"But this was not a general case.

"A different example would be something tha💎t one manufacturer has that others don't. Like the Desmo [valve] system. There is no discussion about banning that. The discussion about wings started from the Safety Commission where riders complained about them.🍸 That was the first attention point.

"If you take just the form of the process, yes you are right 🐼[that theoretically one manufacturer could secure a vote to ban wings by refusing to agree to any proposal], but the substance is that this is only 💃under discussion because there are safety concerns.

"To me it is correct that the FIM take the position of banning them as long as the ma🎐nufacturers don't agree on a statement that says 'in these co🧸nditions they are safe'."

There is no doubt t꧅hat winglets are fully legal un꧒der the present MotoGP rules, so does Cecchinelli feel any sympathy for Ducati?

"I think they are right tౠo have an advantage in terms of their winglets - and should be respected - because they were the first ones [to develop winglets] and under regulations that allowed them.

"But as a technician I can tell you that in one year all the others can catch up. They wouldn't have any advantage from next year onwar🤡ds, so I think [the ban] is a fair decision even from this resp🌸ect.

"I agree that winglets should not be banned immediately; firstly because there is not a clear safety issue - there is a safety concern - and secondly because someone hꩲas an advantage und🅘er regulations that allow them."

The last time a manufac꧃turer introduced a new type of (expensive) technology, which all of its rivals were then forced to develop for performan🗹ce reasons, was the Honda-led use of seamless-shift gearboxes in 2011.

And there is f💞ar less chance of a MotoGP-based seamless gearbox ever appearing on a road bi♑ke than a MotoGP winglet.

But again, safety is what makes the winglet situation different, although Cecchinelli conceded that if the ongoin♎g costs of seamless gearboxes had been known they may also have been banned.

"They [seamless gearboxes] are different from the wings because no rider in the Safety Commission ever said the seamless gearbox is potentially dangerous," Cecchinelli said. "Probably it is pote🤡ntially safer, because it's smoother. But let's say it doesn't make any difference on safety. This is the main difference.

"But, for me, still we should have been more careful at that time because the cost issue is huge 🔴for the seamless. So, to me, I'm not sure that was the right decision at the time. So I t♚hink it is good not to make the same mistake [with winglets], if it was a mistake.

"But the safety concern is the big difference between the two ex♒amples."

Is it possible💮 that Ducati will find a loophole in the new re꧋gulations and continue to use winglets, in modified form, next season?

"Winglets are banned. So that's it. We accept. That is the new rules. We have winglets until the end of the year and then next 💖year's Desmosedici will be without winglets," insist♚ed Tardozzi.

Nevertheless, given the amount of time, m꧟oney and effort🌟 Ducati has invested, it would not be surprising to see engineers searching for a crack in the regulations.

"It is a very tricky matter. You can get to 90% of a perfect definition and this is what we did in Moto2 and Moto3," Cecchinelli said. "🥂But in the end you leave to the technical director the last word on what a device is.

"So the regulation 𒈔does it's best to make a definition of a wing and then it says it is up to the technical director to allow or not some device based on this definition.

"I took part in that definition, which to me is still fine, an🐓d so I don't see at the moment any reason to change it 🏅for MotoGP."

Wings were banned inꦉ the Moto3 and Moto2 classes earlier this season. The offi🐻cial description of a wing, which will now also apply to MotoGP in 2017, is as follows: