The FIA has revealed the key factor which led to the banning of Ferrari’s innovative Halo-mounted mirrors, which were used at the Spanish GP.
Weeks before they were revealed as part of the Scuderia’s upgrade package at the Barcelona circuit, Formula 1’s governing body gave the concept the green light after a team had asked for clarification.
When their design appeared, however, the inclusion of what was clearly a winglet as a secondary mounting point to stabilise the mirrors took the idea beyond what the FIA deemed acceptable and resulted in the Italian team being told to remove them from this weekend’s Monaco GP.
“Whilst the FIA accepts that teams will legitimately design the mirrors, housings and mountings to minimise any negative aerodynamic effects they may cause, we believe that any aerodynamic benefits should be incidental, or at least minimal,” a statement read.
“In order to ensure this is the case, all mountings must provide a meaningful structural contribution to the mounting system or be mounted to the lower and/or inboard surface(s) of the mirror housing.
“As the criteria for determining the eligibility of a mounting are to some extent subjective, the FIA would be available to discuss the legality of a new design before you introduce it in a race, to avoid wasting resource, time or money.”
As for why Ferrari was still allowed to use the mirror design in Spain despite being declared illegal during the weekend, FIA race director added: “If it was a clear breach of the regulations they wouldn’t have been allowed to use it here. But we’ll clarify that to everybody.”
