F1 News
Multiple teams admit use of 'skid block trick': 'Have adjusted it'
- Sandy van Wijngaarden
The FIA has appointed a new technical directive to prevent F1 teams' trick of making skid blocks wear less. This seems to be working, as several teams have admitted they have had to adjust their cars.
The reduced wear on the skid blocks allows teams to tune their cars lower, generating more downforce. This prevents the plank being too worn, allowing teams to avoid disqualification.
To reduce the use of this trick, a new technical directive was introduced by the FIA prior to the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Several teams have been affected by this, including Red Bull Racing. In the press conference, Oliver Oakes (team boss Alpine), Frederic Vasseur (team boss Ferrari) and Toto Wolff (team boss Mercedes) also admitted that their cars had to be modified.
Multiple F1 teams admit to having used the 'skid blocks trick'
"Yeah, we've had to make a little change but I'll be really honest I don't know the rest of it so I'll let Toto or Fred give a real background on it," said Oakes who is the Alpine team principal.
Ferrari also had to make adjustments to the floor. "Yes, we had to make the change, but we had also the confirmation before this that the plank was legal from the FIA. I think it was the right attitude for us not to fight, I want to stay focused on the championship and not on this kind of discussion, but the approach was strange," Vasseur said.
"Yeah, we had to change the way we run the floor as well," Wolff also admitted frankly.
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton