Lewis Hamilton has brandished the FIA’s technical directive on the so-called flexi-wings of Formula 1 cars as “a waste of money” in a damning assessment.
The Ferrari driver qualified in fifth place for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, two places and eight hundredths of a second ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc.
This weekend’s race sees the introduction of the technical directive [TD] which sees a clampdown on how much a front wing can flex under load, in a bid to create a more level playing field.
On Thursday, Hamilton was frank in his criticism of the rule change, saying flexi-wings had “been a positive,” and that reducing their usage was making F1 go “in the wrong direction”.
Speaking immediately after qualifying to media, including Motorsport Week, Hamilton was scathing in his summary of the TD, concluding the exercise has been a pointless endeavour.
“The balance is definitely not as nice as what we had before, but it hasn’t made any… what a waste of money. It’s just wasted everyone’s money.
“It’s literally changed nothing. Everyone’s wings still bend, which is half the bending, and everyone’s had to make new wings and spend more money to make these. It doesn’t make sense, but it is what it is and we just continue on.”
Hamilton reports little change in car performance amid TD
Prior to the business end of the weekend, many drivers and teams were nonplussed about the potential impact the TD would have on performance, and therefore, results.
In his Thursday assessment, Hamilton described flexi-wings as “a band-aid for poorly designed technical regulations”.
When asked if he was expecting a discernible difference in the drivability of the car with the rule change, Hamilton reported very little change.
“No, I wasn’t expecting… I drove on the simulator and it was pretty much exactly the same. A little bit more oversteering in the high speeds.”
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