Flexiwings 2024

[Seanspeed]

Well, this is basically running with 2 different wings.

It's amazing to me how this can ever be considered legal, this is so obvious and blatant. Same for the Merc one, btw.

It's not like it's some new situation, either. FIA have precedent for introducing stricter deflection tests midseason in order to address what are so blatantly purposefully designed flexy wings, which are 100% against the intentions of the regulations. They just seem to have refused to do so this year for reasons most people can probably guess.

And it's not just about being about against the regulations, it deprives us of more 'mixed setup' racing. Teams can race with less compromise, which allows them to perform at their best in a much higher percentage of situations. Some people wont mind this, but one of the aims of having something like parc ferme is that teams will have different strengths/weaknesses based not just on inherent car properties, but also setup differences, giving us the potential for more interesting racing.

[Cassius]

Do we have a comparison of the same angle of red bull at cota with an old one such as at Canada or somewhere else with similar downforce levels

https://iimg.su/i/zbvlX

https://iimg.su/i/gAZ8s

In fact, this topic was comical from the very beginning, that Red Bull's wings did not bend, only biased fans did not see this.

It is not about the top flap, but about the whole wing structure bending down. People keep on confusing this. Not even biased fans have said the RB top flap hasn't been bending. Hence why for me it looked like the Austin RB wing did not change vs previous races based on f1tv footage. Top flap bends in same way and I didn't see the whole wing bending down.

The new video from rikhart did show the full wing bending down, so a good question from Organic to also see that perspective from an older race like Canada.

[Rikhart]

There is lots of room between an official protest and simply press chatter for things to happen

At the very least there was a lot of discussion and the FIA did at least agree to monitor flexing more closely. Iirc They also insinuated that they may change the rules regarding flexing FWs for 2025

Red Bull obviously also use a flexible wing and no formal protests have been lodged against other teams. So what is your complaint against McLaren or MB?

I am baffled by this, honestly. Can you tell me without laughing, after looking at the diverse videos in this thread that you consider what Red Bull has in any way similar to what the Mclaren wing is doing?

[chrisc90]

only bit I could see from Lando during FP1 with some flowvis on the front corner. No front wing shots at all unfortunately all weekend

[Vanja #66]

To alleviate this brittle situation, most engineers would simply recommend using less noodles instead of carbon fibre when making this front wing

[Vanja #66]

Here you go with that nonsense again. Point to us all please the races where McLaren were disqualified for running an illegal rear wing??

You can't because they didn't. Their wing passed all the required tests and so was legal. The rules were changed and they changed the wing.

This is no different than in previous years where Red Bull had to make changes mid season, or Ferrari had to make changes etc. It is the very core of F1 to push the rules wherever you can.

I'm not the person to change anyone's mind. Facts are:

- RBR reported the wing during the Spa weekend and FIA looked the other way
- RBR reported the wing during the Monza weekend and FIA looked the other way
- RBR, Mercedes and Ferrari reported the wing after the Baku race and FIA couldn't look the other way no more
- the wing was visibly flexing to previously unseen levels and constituted an illegal moveable aerodynamic device
- McLaren was forced (accepted, offered, whatever you like) to change the design of several wings, not just the clearly illegal one
- no rules, measuring procedures or guidelines were changed to force them to do it, FIA blatantly ignored this issue until Mercedes, Ferrari and general public pointed to it along with RBR

Make of that what you will. I acknowledge your disagreement on my view. I don't think it's necessary for you to point this out to me on every single occasion.

[Stea1th]

Seems fia is artificially trying to help McLaren. There are to many questionable calls in the past months that make me think otherwise. Obviously a closer battle is better but it’s gotten to the point where it’s becoming obvious intential decisions are being made or not made in some cases.

[Vanja #66]

<>

Measuring procedure didn't change, adding datum dots is simply adding additional reference to make flexing easier to spot so the FIA can wash its hands. Dots were introduced after RB and Mercedes traded blows with flex wings in 2021. McLaren exhibited the same amount of flap trailing edge flexing as RB16B in 2021, this alone was declared unacceptable deformation 3 years ago.



This was banned promptly in 2021:

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/arti ... directive/

As for flexible flap tips, which is even more obvious and advantageous, it was present in Spa already of course and it was the same wing in Monza and Baku:

Rear Wing SPA

Red Bull confirmed they alone protested 3 times after the Baku weekend, so why did it take Mercedes, Ferrari and general public to point it out before they had any reaction?

https://www.si.com/fannation/racing/f1b ... j87wh11t11

The FIA's directive, TD34, clearly states (it does not consider legal):

"Designs whose structural characteristics are altered by secondary parameters, so as to produce (whilst running at the track) a different deflection characteristic than when stationary during the FIA checks. Examples of secondary parameters could be temperature, aerodynamic load etc."

Following the rear wing saga, Marko spoke about Red Bull's efforts to prompt the FIA to take action against McLaren. In a social media post, he cautioned McLaren regarding potential issues with their front wing. He said:

"Three times we protested against McLaren's rear wing. Today the FIA made a very correct decision. McLaren's rear wing is not allowed."

You are free to disagree with facts. Just don't call me a liar because you don't accept them, it's bad manners after all

[Slitch-nl]

After this race it became painfully obvious the FIA looks the other way. Those penalties were a joke, just as the way they handled the rear wing of McLaren

[chrisc90]

It’s strange the FIA didn’t need to bring in any additional load tests to cover it. We got a couple of extra dots I believe.

Just like it was in 2021 with RBR and Merc flexing wings. Was Noted and then later stopped.
FIA just don’t have the balls to disqualify people after the event has happened.

[SharkY]

Amusing yes, but this is going in circles. Some people will never be convinced

(...) despite McLaren not being excluded from any race results for an illegal car.

Does that mean, that Ferrari's fuel injection system was perfectly legal, as they were not DSQ from any race and passed all the tests, despite clearly violating regulations about maximum fuel flow?

[FW17]

Baku wing was clear case of a protest. The fact that it was not done is probably Stefano Domenicali having all other teams back down for the sake of the show and improved TV ratings. It is all about revenue growth now, not about actual rules and technical directives.

[FW17]

I hope the new F1 Race Director puts a hard stop to the front wing flexing which is so prevalent, at the next race. It is sickening to see the rule being so blatantly ignored.

[organic]

I hope the new F1 Race Director puts a hard stop to the front wing flexing which is so prevalent, at the next race. It is sickening to see the rule being so blatantly ignored.

That isn't the job of race control

[FW17]

I hope the new F1 Race Director puts a hard stop to the front wing flexing which is so prevalent, at the next race. It is sickening to see the rule being so blatantly ignored.

That isn't the job of race control

Who is race control?