Ferrari and Red Bull’s team bosses are glad to see the FIA make a clarification on flexi-wings in Formula 1.
Both Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur and Red Bull CEO and Team Principal Christian Horner were vocal on the subject of flexible front wings last term.
The duo felt as if the likes of title rivals McLaren and Mercedes were pushing the boundaries of flexibility limits with their front wing designs.
After stringent video surveillance checks were implemented at the Belgian GP, Vasser and Horner put pressure on the FIA to come to a decision and the governing body eventually ruled no teams had breached regulations.
After concluding that no changes would be made to the regulations, the FIA issued a new technical directive in January.
The new technical directive will see more stringent flexibility tests on rear wings from the start of the season and on front wings for Round 9 in Spain, as confirmed via a recent meeting by the F1 Commission.
This will limit the level of flexibility under load-bearing tests on front wings to 10mm, down from 15mm under the old regulations and Vasseur is happy to have some “clarity” on the subject.
“For me, it’s not an issue,” the Ferrari boss told select media including Motorsport Week.
“I think it’s good to have clarity. The most important for me is to know that we have to change something on the front wing by Barcelona, for example.
“You can discuss about the timing because it’s the week after Monaco and we need to come to Monaco with a full package of front wing.
“But at the end of the day, it’s good for us, it’s good for the development and [planning] to know when we have to bring something.
“The worst-case scenario would be to start the season like we are today and in two races to come with a TD to change something because it’s much more difficult to plan and in this case, it would have been a mess.
“But honestly, we all know the situation. We were all planning to bring an upgrade on the front wing during the season and like this, we know that we’ll have to do it back in Barcelona.”
Ferrari Technical Director Loic Serra concurred with Vasseur’s vision on the matter and was relatively non-plussed in saying “you just have to think, you know, [about] the structural aspect of the front wing with the new regulation.”
Horner reveals cost implications of technical directive
While Horner is happy to have the FIA address the issue of flexi-wings, he did raise one issue with the new technical directive.
The mid-season implication of having to develop a more rigid front wing will come at a significant cost.
In the cost-cap era of F1, every ounce of money is carefully afforded and planned within a team’s development cycle and the technical directive being confirmed well into the off-season will no doubt have had an impact.
“I think it’s good that they’ve addressed it,” Horner said ahead of the F1 75 event on Tuesday.
“Obviously there’s been a change and a tidy-up to the rear wing [as well].”
Asked why Round 9 is the target for the new flexi-wing parameters, Horner replied “I don’t know, but it is what it is. It’s the same for everyone.
“It just means that you’ve got a pre-race nine and a post-race nine set of issues to deal with, which inevitably will drive cost.”
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