Seven teams may have been affected by the FIA’s strictures. Ferrari complains – did Red Bull quit out of fear?

Table of Contents

• 0.1 “Several teams used the solution where this titanium plate moved, that is, it slid into the floor plate. It was legal, when it could not be otherwise. “
• 0.2 “For me, the technical guidance is not a clarification, but a new rule. And I’m really surprised that they’re announcing something like that on a Friday night, and then you have two days to do anything, and that’s kind of tight, because we’ve had the same plate of junk for two years now, and we’ve sent the plans to the FIA ​​as well.”
• 0.3 The question arises as to why Red Bull lobbied for an immediate tightening if it also had to change. The Motor car and sports accordingly, not only to gain an advantage, but so that he would not be at a disadvantage. According to reports, they were afraid that their rivals, McLaren, would file a warning just to get ahead of an attack.
• 1 * Do you think lobbying for rule changes that potentially benefit your team, even ‌if they harm rivals, is ethical in Formula 1, considering the competitive nature of the sport?

As we mentioned, the FIA ​​implemented new technical guidelines before the Las Vegas Grand Prix, as a result of which several teams had to change the floor plates of their cars. The Motor car and sports According to his article, Red Bull drew the attention of the FIA ​​to the fact that if the rules and guidelines previously issued are interpreted literally, the floor scales of several teams can be considered arbitrary.

The topic of discussion was the titanium rings or sliding plates attached to the wear plate. Taking advantage of a gap left in the regulations, several stables have put additional metal protection on their discs, which are further away from the FIA ​​measuring points. In theory, this allows them to lower the belly of their car closer to the ground (increasing drag) without having to worry about their wear plate thinning more than the 1 millimeter required by the rules during the race.

With the new guidelines issued last week, the FIA ​​made it impossible to use such additional protection elements. AN Sky Sports according to his report, the association planned this from the beginning, but they only wanted to implement the guidelines from 2025. That’s when Red Bull came and said that there is no reason why it should not be sent the immediate action.

According to reports, the change forced more than half of the arena to change their floorboards. The Motor car and sports According to the information of the newspaper, a total of seven teams: Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston Martin, Haas, Sauber and Alpine.

At a press conference of the team leaders in Las Vegas, Mercedes, Ferrari and Alpine also confirmed that they had to touch their floor plates. “Yes, we had to change a little” said Oliver Oakes of Alpine. “Yes, we also changed the way we use our floorboards” Toto Wolff also confirmed.

He is the head of Mercedes Austria ORFalso revealed details of the trick.

“Several teams used the solution where this titanium plate moved, that is, it slid into the floor plate. It was legal, when it could not be otherwise. “

The AutoRacer At the same time, the Italian newspaper noted: the real question is not who used metal sheets in addition to their floor plates, but how they used them. It turned out, some people might have played more with its thickness and design.

From this perspective, Wolff’s words are interesting. “It didn’t really affect us, but we still had to change our plans. We will see if it has an effect that one team or another team does not perform as well. We will find out more in qualifying, and even more in the race, because whoever played with their car will have to raise the bar even higher to reach the finish line on Sunday.

Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur said they had stepped up with the tension. “Yes, we had to change, but it was also confirmed by the FIA ​​before that our wear plate was legal. I think it was not the right idea on our part to fight, because I want us to focus on the competition and not on these disputes. But the procedure was strange.”

Vasseur was a bit more serious in TV interviews.

“For me, the technical guidance is not a clarification, but a new rule. And I’m really surprised that they’re announcing something like that on a Friday night, and then you have two days to do anything, and that’s kind of tight, because we’ve had the same plate of junk for two years now, and we’ve sent the plans to the FIA ​​as well.”

As for whether Red Bull tried to interfere with them and Mercedes with this move, Vasseur only said: “I don’t care about anything but ourselves, not Red Bull. I don’t know what they did. I know what we need to do, not what Mercedes or Red Bull need to do to set up the car.”

Asked if the change could set them back, he replied: “I wouldn’t think so. At least not this weekend.”

The question arises as to why Red Bull lobbied for an immediate tightening if it also had to change. The Motor car and sports accordingly, not only to gain an advantage, but so that he would not be at a disadvantage. According to reports, they were afraid that their rivals, McLaren, would file a warning just to get ahead of an attack.

The people of Woking did not use the solution mentioned, this was also confirmed by the managing director Zak Brown Sky SportsFriday. Another issue is that the people of Papaya did not even intend to file a complaint, because they did not see the possibility of another interpretation of the relevant rules…

As for Ferrari, the Vasseurs are not particularly worried about raising the belly of their car a little higher, because they believe that their aerodynamics are working anyway. They simply don’t have enough data yet on what their disk will be consuming without the extra protection. They also tried to find this during free training.