FIA responds to Red Bull 'bendy' wing story
May 12 - F1's governing body has responded to accusations Red Bull may be benefitting from a "bendy" rear wing.
The "bendy" claim was made by Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton last weekend in Barcelona, but Red Bull boss Christian Horner suspects Toto Wolff was actually behind the accusation.
"The FIA is completely satisfied with our car and it has passed all of the various rigorous testing," Horner said.
But that may not actually be true, as the FIA's technical boss Nikolas Tombazis has now written to the teams to warn them about parts that feature "excessive deflections".
"We have become aware of some cases whereby rear designs which comply with the requirements of (the rules) nonetheless exhibit excessive deflections while the cars are in motion," he said.
Tombazis added that the deflections "can have a significant influence on a car's aerodynamic performance".
"We will be looking out for any anomalous behaviour of the deformation of the rear wing," he said.
"Should we observe any characteristics that indicate exploitation of this area, we will introduce further load deflection tests as necessary."
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So the wing complies, but we will change the rules later at MB's request.
All years it's the same with the teams complaints. Last year Red Bull made a request for the DAS system in the MB, the FIA said it complies but they were going to change the rules for next year so it wasn't allowed any more. This time is Red Bull, and so is goging to be next year for the team who gets something new.
Lovely , lets wait untill the 5th race of the season to tighten the rules, sounds about right lol
I'm sure that if the FIA found Red Bull where running a 2.0 litre engine some people would say the FIA were pressed into action by Mercedes. lol
I think that Toto and Christian just plain don't like each other. Kinda' fun really. Waiting for the Honda cheating accusations to come later in the season. Oh, and did you see the moveable aerodynamic device on HAM's helmet?
Is that what Hamilton was 'learning' when he was stuck behind Max for all those laps...
FIA is a pathetic group of old people in the pocket of MB. The same story happens whenever a team beats MB and baby LH starts sooking. It happens in 2019 when Ferrari gave MB a hiding with newly developed technology and FIA changed regulations in the middle of the season in response to MB complaint; and again now, because RB has challenged them, they complain again and hopeless FIA respond to their request. It's all a very pathetic show.
Just a stupid question: Doesn't matter which team you support, is breaking the rules (or spirit of the rules) THE issue here? Just asking, I'm a simpleton...
Sure, but complaints about MB are never upheld, re. last year's steering wheel. Too much of a coincidence
Obviously the FIA did not make the rule clear enough,,and teams will allways push the boundries,,if the wing passes regulations ,the wing should stay,,make more stringent rules next season
It does seem like Merc gets a pass more often by the FIA.
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