The FIA issued a technical directive restricting the use of skid blocks ahead of the Las Vegas GP after Red Bull raised concerns.
A previous loophole allowed the teams to install protective skids on the floor, which prevented plank wear.
With the introduction of the ground effect era, teams have found aerodynamic performance gains at low ride heights. The cars run as low to the ground as possible to extract maximum downforce.
However, plank wear has become a concern as a result of the low ride heights.
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified from the 2023 US GP for exceeding the 1mm of plank wear allowance.
The new technical directive closed this loophole in the regulation. As a consequence, teams had to make changes to their cars as the directive was issued with immediate effect.
Among the teams that must make changes are Alpine, Ferrari and Mercedes.
During the team principal press conference, Alpine’s Oliver Oakes admitted that his team had to change their cars.
“Thanks. Yeah, we’ve had to make a little change. But I’ll be really honest, I don’t know the rest of it. So I’ll let Toto or Fréd give a real background of it.”
Ferrari team principal Fréd Vasseur clarified that the FIA verified the legality prior to the directive.
The Italian outfit chose not to challenge the decision as they are focusing on Championship.
Ferrari sits 36 points behind McLaren in the Constructors’ and is looking to bring the title to Maranello for the first time in 16 years.
“Yes, we had to make the change. But we had also the confirmation before this that the plank was legal, that from the FIA.
I think it was the right attitude for us not to fight because that I want to stay focused on the on the championship and not on this kind of discussion.
But the approach was strange.”
Toto Wolff confirms that Mercedes had to make changes as well.
“Yeah, we had to change the way we run the floor as well.”
The teams will have to raise their ride heights to prevent plank wear. This will most likely translate into the performance on the track.
With only three races to go, it remains to be seen if the recent clampdown will affect the pecking order.
