FIA explains 'four or five' teams had to 'change rear wing' after latest technical directive
F1 News
FIA single seater director Nikolas Tombazis has revealed "four or five" teams had to change their rear wings ahead of Formula 1's Chinese Grand Prix.
That comes after the championship's governing body delivered a technical directive for the weekend in China.
'Flexi-wings' were a heavily-discussed topic in the world of Formula 1 in 2024, and that conversation continued over to the current season as well. In terms of the front wings, a new change will be introduced ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, while after already beginning to have stricter measures for the rear wings, an even stricter directive was introduced after Round 1 in Australia.
"I'm hopeful it'll be enough this time," said Tombazis as reported by Motorsport-Total.com about the so-called 'Mini DRS' concept. From China onwards, the 'slot gap' can only vary by 0.5 millimetres, instead of the previously allowed 2mm. He explained four or five teams 'had to make changes' mid-week, but said he does not want to name them. Alpine themselves, however explained it is on that list.
"That's why we continue to use cameras, simply to be safe. But 'safe' is actually a word I want to avoid, because it's a rather complex phenomenon that causes this effect."
What do the FIA do with the cameras?
Williams received a hefty fine for failing to submit their footage from FP1. The British team has to pay €50,000 [with €40,000 suspended].
"Basically, we mainly use the results of the load tests and combine that with the camera data," added Tombazis. "That way we ensure we don't miss any tricks. Camera images alone would not only lead us to involve the stewards. They're more likely to initiate a more detailed investigation, where we might discover that a team is using non-linear characteristics or a mechanism. Then we'd have reason to report it." Moreover, Tombazis explained that they don't have the resources to review everything, which would be too time-consuming.
The single seater director also explained that if there are more suspicions, they can always limit it further, but for now, they are "reasonably satisfied at the moment. That shouldn't be seen as arrogance - the teams are obviously still trying to get the most out of their cars, and we have to remain vigilant."
"Our view is: A car that passes the FIA tests is generally legal, unless there are hidden mechanisms or things based on non-linear properties, temperatures, or similar things. In such cases, we intervene. In principle, we would never report a team that has passed the tests to the stewards. But specifically on this issue, and for precisely these reasons, the rules give us the right to conduct additional stiffness tests."
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