FIA Reveals More Team Design Changes After McLaren 'Mini DRS'

Saajan Jogia | 3 Hours Ago

Oct 19, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Lando Norris of McLaren during qualifying at the Formula One US Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-Imagn Images / Erich Schlegel-Imagn Images

Formula 1's governing body, the FIA, revealed that apart from McLaren, several other teams were asked to make changes to the rear wings of their cars starting from the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.

The move comes after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix highlighted flex in the McLaren's rear wing that caused a 'mini DRS' effect on long straights, prompting other teams to take up the matter with the FIA. The governing body then asked the Papaya outfit to make necessary changes to the rear wing, though it had passed all required tests and approvals.

In response to the request, McLaren announced that it would change the design of its low-drag rear wing specification. While the controversy put McLaren under the spotlight considering its dominant form this season, it turns out that the FIA asked "two or three" other teams to make changes to their rear wings.

While it remains unclear which specific teams made adjustments in response to the FIA's directive after the Singapore Grand Prix, reports suggest that all race-winning teams from the 2024 season have come under scrutiny for potentially testing the boundaries of the regulations concerning rear wing flexing. FIA's head of single-seater matters, Nikolas Tombazis, told Motorsport.com:

"We issued after Singapore some communication about rear wings, saying what we would consider acceptable or not acceptable.

"Two or three teams had to make some small tweaks to adjust to that."

Tombazis revealed that the directive specified a maximum gap limit of 2mm when DRS was closed. He said:

"We don't want the amount of opening there to exceed 2mm.

"There's some natural opening, because of the way the wings are mounted and deform and so on, but some teams were deforming more."

Despite McLaren's 'mini DRS' wing being in sync with the regulations, Tombazis revealed that McLaren would have been reported if it hadn't adhered to the FIA's "warning." He added:

"Yes, we would have, because we specifically gave a warning to them.

"We said, 'Look, we consider that as something you need to change.' If they had ignored us, and they generally don't, then we would have reported them."

To improve its monitoring of rear wing flexing, the FIA introduced "dots" on the rear wings for the Austin race. These reference points make it easier for the governing body to identify flexing in footage. Tombazis said:

"We just want to make sure that there isn't any sort of continuing trend in a certain direction, but it's not because we have any immediate plans to introduce a new test or anything."