The FIA has issued a technical directive ahead of the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix after Red Bull complained rival outfits were navigating a loophole in the regulations protecting excessive plank wear.
In F1’s ground effect era, ride height is a performance defining set-up measure with how low a team can run a car affecting its performance dramatically.
However, the rules have a 1mm allowance of wear on the floor plank with four holes around the plank measured by the FIA to ensure adherence to the regulation.
Teams are allowed to utilise metal skid blocks around areas where they perceive the most wear will occur, in order to preserve the plank.
Moreover, a previous technical directive, according to a report from Autosport allowed teams to utilise supportive satellite skids on the plank further away from the four measuring holes the FIA inspects.
It is said these satellite skids were deemed legal “as long as they had the same vertical stiffness as the main skids” with no mention of thickness.
Ferrari among F1 teams affected by new technical directive
According to reports, several teams had been exploiting the fact that thickness wasn’t written into the outdated directive regarding satellite skids.
In turn, these teams, which include F1 Constructors’ title-chasing Ferrari, were increasing the thickness of these support skids to protect the main ones.
With the increased thickness of the support skids, teams could effectively run cars lower and improve performance without the fear of wearing out the plank.
Red Bull took issue with this and alerted the FIA in Brazil upon the conclusion of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The FIA has heeded Red Bull’s concerns and issued a new technical directive outlawing the supporting satellite skids.
Now, the likes of Ferrari will have to take extra care with ride height, to ensure they don’t excessively wear the planks of their F1 machines and breach the regulations.
A significant performance disadvantage could come thanks to these teams essentially being forced to run a higher ride height.
This decision is the second response the FIA has made following Red Bull concerns raised in Brazil.
The first was fears that teams were using water injection methods to cool tyres and improve thermal management.
However, unlike the plank skid phenomenon, upon investigation, the FIA saw no evidence to support Red Bull’s claims that foul play was at hand concerning tyre water injection.
READ MORE – FIA end F1 tyre cooling debate after Red Bull concerns
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