IMO RB dropped the skates because of another rule change: the raising of the floor edge height +15 mm.
organic wrote: ↑11 Sep 2023, 19:55
Yep. But last year RB used ice skates for ride height control.. this year they run on the plank
The ice skates were intended to help define the floor edge droop since last year the floor edge was that much closer to the ground. Instead of dragging the CF floor edge against the tarmac the skates acted like outboard skid blocks (the floor edges were only ~20 mm higher than the underside of the plank last year). IMO they couldn't do much in terms of defining ride height for the entire vehicle, because they were too far outboard and the floor edge is too flexible to act as a hard stop--whereas the plank and plank skid blocks do.
That may be why TD039 did not effect them--their ride height was already dialed in, thus no concerns about plank wear. The real trick was that the ice skates limited floor edge bending. Into 2023, everyone had to raise their floor edges so the skates became less needful. Currently they can only make contact during roll (I posted screenshot of this in the Ferrari thread), because the floor edges at high DF levels can't bend down to span the +15mm (~35mm total) during straight running.