Following the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, onboard videos emerged of the Mclaren cars where it appeared that their low downforce rear wings seemed to be flexing to help open up the slot gap, effectively reducing drag to improve top speed.
Anticipation grew ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix regarding whether the teams would be raising complaints over this technical development, especially since the rear wing passed the FIA scrutineering ahead of the Baku race.
While no formal protest was lodged, the wing came under heavy criticism from several drivers and team principals. This led the FIA to determine that the wing’s behavior did not comply with the regulations and to request design changes for future races. McLaren confirmed it would modify the wing’s design.
Speaking about the matter in Friday’s press conference, Ferrari’s Team Principal Fred Vasseur affirmed that, despite the numerous queries that have been made regarding the wings’ maximum flexibility, the teams that take advantage of rear wing flexing operate in a different legal realm concerning the guidelines and suggestions provided by pertinent technical directives (TD).
“I think there is a kind of confusion between what’s happened with the front wing and the rear wing,”
“The front wing, we all agree that it could be a grey area because the first paragraph of the TD is saying that you can’t design a part of the car with the intention of the deformation. Intention is difficult to manage.
“But the rear wing story, it’s completely different because in the article you have also a maximum deflection. And this is black or white. It’s no grey, no dark grey, no light grey. It’s black and black. And for me, it’s clear.”
Vasseur also explained that through Ferarri’s analysis, McLaren appeared to have used this advantage at the Italian Grand Prix and during other races where a low-downforce wing was needed, he expressed his frustrations.
“We all saw the video and the pictures of this.“And it’s a bit frustrating when, if you remember perfectly the situation in Monza, we had five cars in two-hundredths of a second [the gap was in fact 0.075s].
“You can move from P1, P2 to P5 or P6 for two hundredths of seconds. In Baku, we arrived 10 laps in a row side by side [into] Turn 1. You can imagine that we have a bit of frustration.”
When asked if the team considered raising a complaint in Baku to protest this design Vasseur said: “It could have been possible, but it’s not so easy to have the evidence [required].
“But now, honestly, I want to turn this page, because I want to be focused on the future. Baku and Monza are behind us. We have still seven races to go. We have to win this weekend, and it will be the best reply that we can give.”
