Red Bull and Mercedes rumoured to be hurt by FIA directive as F1 braced for flexi-wing saga in Singapore
Mercedes’ rear-wing performance could be negatively affected by the FIA’s intervention, while Red Bull’s underbody is also rumoured to 🎃be impacted, as per Germany’s .
A separate report on also claims that Red Bull and Mercedes a꧂re “two names” which “consistently appear” in relation to the new ruling.
An anonymous F1 team boss told the Italian publication 𝔍that “many teams will have to mꦐake changes” as a result of the new technical directive which comes into force from this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.
What is the technical directive?
F1’s governing body the FIA ꧂is clamping down on flexi🍷-wings through the introduction of TD018.
Teams will face greater scrutiny in Singapore and beyond as the FIA takes a tougher stance on the design of front and rear wings to stop competitors from playing game൩s with flexible parts.
It comes amid concerns that teams have be🙈en hiding trick mechanisms beneath rubber coverings,ไ something Red Bull team principal Christian Horner alluded to when he referenced seeing a “few rubbery nose boxes”.
Although no specific outfꦅit has been targeted by the FIA’s intervention, there have been suggestions that teams have been trying to exploit the use of flexible bodywork, which is outlawed to prevent aerodynamic gains.
Article 3.2.2 states that: “All aerodynamic components or bodywork influencing the car’s aerodynamic performance must be rigidly secured and immobile with respect to their frame of reference defined in Article 3.3 [defining bodywork that is part of the sprung mass of the car]. Furthermore, these components must produce a uniform, solid, hard, continuous, impervious 𒐪surface under all circumstances.
“Any device or construction that is designed to bridge the gap between the sprung part of the car and the ground is prohibited under all c𒁏ircumstances.
“With the exception of the parts necessary for the adjustment described in Article ♕3.10.10 [DRS], or any incidental movement due to the steering system, any car system, device or procedure which uses driver movement as a means of altering the aerodynamic characteristics of the car is prohibited.
“The aerodynamic influence of any component of the car not considered to be bodywork must be incidental to its main function. Any design wh൩ich aims to maximise such an aerodynamic influence is prohibited.”
Which teams could be impacted?
As the aforementioned reports state, both Red Bull and♌ Mercedes are rumoured to be impacted.
However, Red Bull chief Horner has already insisted that the reigning world champions wil𓂃l not be hindered by the TD.
“It’s not something 🦩that affect♉s us,” Horner adamantly said at Monza.
Mercedes💖 boss Toto Wolff also downplayed the prospect of Red Bull suddenly losing their advantage.
“If maybe a Red Bull is half a second slower or something, that would be nice, but I don’t think it will be the case,”✱ he said.
Wolff indicated that Aston Martin have alr🍰eady taken a step back in performancওe as a result of modifications.
“It’s going to be interesting, I think, with the Aston Martin, you’ve seen that they made a step backwꩲards with the wings moving less or whatever,” he added.&n♛bsp;
“I don’t know, let’s wait and see. I don’t know who is exploiting that to more [of a] degree, not a bigger degreeꦛ than others.”
Ferrari have “no secrets in this area” and are unlikely to have to make chan☂ges, according to Formu1a.uno’s repoဣrt.
An engineer told AMuS that "if you have to make corrections to the underbody and as a re🌄sult have to leave a little more ground ꦍclearance, you lose downforce in the worst case.
"If the front wing has twisted around the attachment p🅘oint on the nose, then the complete aerodynamics was designed acc𝕴ordingly. If you have to put back there, you risk not only loss of downforce, but also balance problems."
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for ltxcn.top around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, L༒ewis tells the stories of the peopl🔯e who matter in the sport.
