From the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend, the FIA are implementing a more stringent restriction on the amount of allowed deflection of the rear wing. The governing body observed the behaviour of these wings on track at the Australian Grand Prix and as a result of their findings have reduced the permitted deflection by 75%, from 2mm to 0.5mm, with a 0.25mm additional tolerance for this event only.
Flexibility in wings has been an ongoing topic over these regulations, but the discussions around the benefits rear wing flexing can bring came to a head in Azerbaijan last September. McLaren were widely reported to have been using a so-called ‘mini-DRS’ trick to increase the size of their wing’s slot gap under load, reducing drag on the straights before returning to its higher downforce position for the corners.
The benefit of such innovation would be improved balance around the lap, but also a reduced need to find a compromise in setup between high and low downforce, or between the corners and straights.
McLaren entered discussions with the FIA and agreed to alter their rear wings from the United States Grand Prix, and over the winter the FIA implemented changes to the technical regulations to shut down any further use of the grey area. These changes came into action from the first round for the rear and beam wings, and are set to come in for the front wings from the Spanish Grand Prix.
While the FIA haven’t directly spoken to their motivation for introducing this new technical directive immediately, aside from their Melbourne observations, teams have been pointing fingers at each other about who may be using these tricks.
But while McLaren were at the centre of this last season, this time Lando Norris insists “it’s not directed at us”. He said on media day in China, “We don’t have to change anything. Ours was fine. In fact, ours was too good and we are not pushing the limits enough.”
“Already if this new [ruling] was in place last weekend, we’d also be fine. So it’s not directed at us. It’s directed at other teams, which probably means we need to push it even more!”
Credit: Filedimage / Dreamstime.
Norris wasn’t more specific about the “other teams”, but discussions have been ongoing over who this technical directive may impact the most and whether it will impact one team’s performance more than others, and George Russell has given his conclusion.
“It’s not going to change anything from our side. I don’t know who the TD was introduced for but I’m pretty confident it wasn’t us or Red Bull.”
“But I’m also confident for the teams it’s going to hurt it’s not going to hurt them enough that it will have any sort of impact on the result.”
This seems to be the most plausible conclusion without any on track running to support it, but there must have been something the FIA weren’t comfortable with or happy about to make them enact a stringent directive with such short notice. Even so, they’ve maintained that all cars were legal and compliant with the regulations in Australia.
