Max Verstappen has brushed off any suggestions a new FIA directive on ‘flexi-wings’ could hamper Red Bull.
This weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix will see the enforcement of TD018, issued several weeks ago, which aims to more strongly enforce the regulations on flexible bodywork.
Article 3.2.2 of the Technical Regulations states that “all aerodynamic components or bodywork influencing the car’s aerodynamic performance must be rigidly secured and immobile”, however, this is not possible as the huge loads mean an immobile wing would simply snap.
As a result, the FIA has devised a series of load tests to ensure any flex is within a tolerated amount, but the teams have been coming up with ways to skirt these tests by hiding tricks under rubber coverings.
“There are a lot of clever engineers out there looking to get the most out of the regulations and we have to make sure that everyone has a common understanding of where the boundaries are and we have to be fair and balanced across the whole group in how we apply them,” FIA chief Tim Goss explained.
“And in recent times we have seen a little bit too much freedom being applied to the design details of aerodynamic components.
“Now, quite clearly things cannot be totally rigid. So, we have a range of load deflection tests that define how much elements can bend and we’ve evolved those tests to represent what the teams are trying to achieve on track and to put a sensible limit on them.
“We play by those rules, while teams look to exploit the allowance in terms of deflection. That’s normal. So the TD is just about making sure that we, the FIA, and the teams, all have a common understanding of where we will draw the line in terms of these design details.
“What we don’t want to see, as an example, is that the joint of a rear beam wing and an end plate is decoupled in any way such that it rotates about a pivot there, or that it can move laterally or up and down.”
The teams thought to be pushing hardest in this area include Aston Martin and Mercedes, with the prior rumoured to have been impacted by an earlier intervention by the FIA in April.
Although Mercedes boss Toto Wolff playfully hoped the latest TD would significantly slow down the dominant Red Bulls.
“It’s going to be interesting, I think, with the Aston Martin, you’ve seen that they made a step backwards with the wings moving less or whatever,” he said.
“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 degree than others.
“But 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.”
Indeed, Verstappen played down any impact on Red Bull from the flexi-wing directive on Thursday.
“I don’t think it will,” he said. “We never had any flexible front wing or whatever, so I don’t think it will hurt us.”