The effect of Formula 1's scheduled clampdown on flexi-wings at this year's Spanish Grand Prix has received mixed predictions from McLaren's Zak Brown and Red Bull's Christian Horner.
The FIA initially vowed not to make any changes to its flex tests following its "data-gathering exercise" last season - which involved putting cameras on select cars to fully assess the scope of how teams were implementing aeroelasticity into their packages.
But this approach changed over the off-season, where the governing body elected to introduce more stringent rear wing flex tests from the opening round of the season, staggering that with harsher tests for the front wings in Spain.
This followed lobbying last season from Ferrari and Red Bull, who asserted that McLaren and Mercedes were the main beneficiaries of flexing front wings.
Ferrari and Red Bull are understood to have introduced flexing front wings later into the season, with mixed results; Ferrari enjoyed a surge in late-season form, while Red Bull struggled with balance in the third quarter of the year.
"I don't think it's a significant change for us," said McLaren CEO Zak Brown.
"I think it's too hard to tell who wins or loses over it, because I don't think it's going to be a material change for anybody.
"I'm not expecting there to be a winner and loser, or some change in the pecking order at that time because of that change."
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner reckons it will be "impossible to predict" if there are any big changes as a result of the flexi-wing clampdown, and also questioned the timing of the regulatory change.
He confirmed that this would mean teams would effectively run two front wing structures, and exploit the current regulations until Spain where they will then convert to a more rigid specification.
"Yeah, it'll be interesting the effect that it has - I guess the slight oddball about it is the timing of it," said Horner. "Why race nine? It might have been better to have been addressed during the off season, because you end up doing sort of two specs of wings.
"But who will gain or who will lose from it, I think, is impossible to predict."
The current regulations state that the front and rear wings may not flex by more than a maximum of 15mm, although the clarification over the rules is understood to have brought this down to 10mm.
