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Wolff hopes Red Bull loses time due to FIA intervention on flexi-wings
- Toby McLuskie
The FIA announced during the Grand Prix weekend that a new technical directive will come into force from Singapore that should make flexi-wings a thing of the past. Toto Wolff hopes Red Bull Racing will lose half a second because of this, although the Mercedes team boss is also realistic: the chances of that happening are not that great.
What about flexi-wings? According to FIA regulations, the front and rear wings are not allowed to be flexible. That's because that provides improved aerodynamic performance. If a wing flexes, more or less downforce can be created, but this is therefore not allowed. A loophole now allows this, and several teams in Formula 1 seem to be taking advantage of this.
To check that the racing teams do not have flexi-wings, several tests are carried out every weekend. However, teams have found a way to pass these tests but still be able to flex the wings at very high speeds. The new technical directive will make the tests more stringent and should put an end to flexi-wings once and for all.
Impact of tighter controls
From Singapore, all this is set to happen. "It’s going to be interesting, I think, with the Aston Martin, you’ve seen that they made a step backwards with the wings moving less or whatever," Wolff told PlanetF1, among others. What impact the changes will have on the batting order? "I“I don’t know, let’s wait and see. I don’t know who is exploiting that to more [of a] degree, not a bigger degree than others."
The Austrian Mercedes team boss concludes: "But if maybe a Red Bull is half a second slower or something, that would be nice, but I don’t think it will be the case.”