Flexiwings 2025

[lio007]

What MCL has been allowed to get away with with flexible wings is absolutely unprecedented…

But this is the same politics that happens any year, just so happens RBR is on the wrong side of it this time, or was it not corruption when they were allowed to outspend the budget cap and got away with it for free?

Factually wrong on your side...
But that's off topic.

[lio007]

I'm looking forward to the first interview with Nikolas Tombazis. Last year he was OK with the regulations and a few weeks later he changed his mind.

[napoleon1981]

What MCL has been allowed to get away with with flexible wings is absolutely unprecedented…

But this is the same politics that happens any year, just so happens RBR is on the wrong side of it this time, or was it not corruption when they were allowed to outspend the budget cap and got away with it for free?

They got punished for exceeding the budget cap, so no they did not get away with it for free. I'm sure you will now try to rationalize that the penalty was not to your liking and therefore it was equivalent to being free, fact remains, the minor overspent in a year with confusion about the interpretation of the rules resulted in a penalty for RB significantly reducing wind tunnel time.

[dialtone]

Not to my liking? Lmao. No team liked it except rbr. They got a 0.1s penalty in fewer wind tunnel time while spending 5%+ more budget than others on car development (that’s about $20mil removing all the other slices). FIA was beyond generous.

But this is off topic, the point is: stop complaining, most of the time FIA has allowed RBR to do what they wanted, now it’s someone else’s turn, it can’t always be RBR that is favored.

[peewon]

Not to my liking? Lmao. No team liked it except rbr. They got a 0.1s penalty in fewer wind tunnel time while spending 5%+ more budget than others on car development (that’s about $20mil removing all the other slices). FIA was beyond generous.

But this is off topic, the point is: stop complaining, most of the time FIA has allowed RBR to do what they wanted, now it’s someone else’s turn, it can’t always be RBR that is favored.

Unless Im mistaken, the Red Bull overspend reported by the FIA was about $2.3m. This also due to the FIA clarifying whether certain costs are included in the cap mid season (it was parts for older cars used for promotional events).

Also, the penalty system was set before the season and agreed to by all teams. So based on the amount overspent, it was considered a "minor breach". The penalty was pre-defined and wasnt made up mid way.

[organic]

Not to my liking? Lmao. No team liked it except rbr. They got a 0.1s penalty in fewer wind tunnel time while spending 5%+ more budget than others on car development (that’s about $20mil removing all the other slices). FIA was beyond generous.

But this is off topic, the point is: stop complaining, most of the time FIA has allowed RBR to do what they wanted, now it’s someone else’s turn, it can’t always be RBR that is favored.

Unless Im mistaken, the Red Bull overspend reported by the FIA was about $2.3m. This also due to the FIA clarifying whether certain costs are included in the cap mid season (it was parts for older cars used for promotional events).

Also, the penalty system was set before the season and agreed to by all teams. So based on the amount overspent, it was considered a "minor breach". The penalty was pre-defined and wasnt made up mid way.

The red bull overspend was around £500k in the end.

This is all off topic just leave it there

[Paa]

This is ironic, because the potential of such TD was the main reason why Red Bull and Ferrari did not invest heavily into the flexi-wings last year. They waited for FIA to give the green light before getting involved, just so FIA change their mind few months later.

If I would be a business owner, I would consider a lawsuit at this point.

Btw, is there any new info coming to light to change FIA's approach or they just fancied issuing a TD for no apparent reason?

[organic]

This is ironic, because the potential of such TD was the main reason why Red Bull and Ferrari did not invest heavily into the flexi-wings last year. They waited for FIA to give the green light before getting involved, just so FIA change their mind few months later.

If I would be a business owner, I would consider a lawsuit at this point.

Btw, is there any new info coming to light to change FIA's approach or they just fancied issuing a TD for no apparent reason?

I think the most likely reason is that the poorer teams applied pressure & argued that they couldn't afford to go down this line of development and the FIA saw reason in that. But with the cost cap in place I don't see why that should be the case

[GrizzleBoy]

Maybe the cost cap would be precisely why they would t very able to spend the money to become competitive even if they had the knowhow.

Which funny enough is exactly how the cost cap has been working anyway. It's not that teams can't develop. It's that they can't spend spend to do so.

[Dee]

This is ironic, because the potential of such TD was the main reason why Red Bull and Ferrari did not invest heavily into the flexi-wings last year. They waited for FIA to give the green light before getting involved, just so FIA change their mind few months later.

If I would be a business owner, I would consider a lawsuit at this point.

Btw, is there any new info coming to light to change FIA's approach or they just fancied issuing a TD for no apparent reason?

I think the most likely reason is that the poorer teams applied pressure & argued that they couldn't afford to go down this line of development and the FIA saw reason in that. But with the cost cap in place I don't see why that should be the case

Would it not be the bigger teams not wanting to be challenged and putting their influence on the FIA? With stable regulations and flexi wings as a simple enough trick to help with balance, you would have more than 4 teams in the battle at some points..

[Paa]

Btw, is there any new info coming to light to change FIA's approach or they just fancied issuing a TD for no apparent reason?

I think the most likely reason is that the poorer teams applied pressure & argued that they couldn't afford to go down this line of development and the FIA saw reason in that. But with the cost cap in place I don't see why that should be the case

Also this it not new info compared to last year. They could have banned it last year based on this.

I would be fine with either allowing or banning, I honestly don't care. But FIA giving mixed signals is really bad governing.

[TNTHead]

This whole situation seems ridiculous to me: first it is not permitted, but was not enforced, then it was permitted just before winter, so every team could adapt their design around it. Especially front wing is crucial since it is foremost a flow conditioner. So with now again prohibiting, the question arises: did every team have exactly the same information? If not one or more teams will have an advantage. Was the goal of the budget cap not to create a more level playing field?

[peewon]

I have never seen FIA give one whole years lead time for teams to change a few wings. This excuse was suspicious even mid season last year because they have put out mid season directives in the past, effective with only a 2-3 race notice. But then again if anyone knows the history of FIA decisions, its always been a highly politized entity which likes to put its finger on the scale. No bigger example than the double diffuser ruling.

[lio007]

The surprising thing is that the FIA can make these random decisions without any consequence. IMO a governing body of a multi billion dollar business should not be able to act in a way they did recently.

The problem is that the broader audience won't care. Only the die hard fans realize or are concerned about the effects.

[zoroastar]

The surprising thing is that the FIA can make these random decisions without any consequence. IMO a governing body of a multi billion dollar business should not be able to act in a way they did recently.

The problem is that the broader audience won't care. Only the die hard fans realize or are concerned about the effects.

its getting to the point where someone will have to take them to court for unethical business practices at this point. the weird, way they constantly switch course on a simple ruleset only to completely flip their tune weeks before the rules become irrelevant is just a symptom of it. if they hadnt just made talking bad about them a bannable offense it may not be a huge deal. they just do what they want and shove it in faces now. whos gonna stop him?