Red Bull reckons an FIA clarification over slot-gap tricks has had an impact on the fight at the front of Formula 1.
Ahead of the United States Grand Prix, the FIA issued a note to all teams saying that it was not comfortable with some of the flexing of rear wings that was helping open up slot gaps for a straightline speed boost.
This had reached a peak at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, when McLaren’s ‘mini-DRS’ came under scrutiny from rival teams and the FIA.
While that rear wing passed the static load test, it subsequently emerged that the FIA expressed its belief it was pushing the boundaries of flexibility too much, and McLaren subsequently agreed to change it.
McLaren was one of several teams that had to make further minor changes to their rear wings to reduce flexing from last weekend’s United States Grand Prix, and it coincided with the team having a harder fight on its hands than it has had in previous races.
And that left Red Bull, which denied that it had to modify the wing specification it used in Austin, convinced that it will have had an impact on the fight at the front when things are as close as they are right now in F1.
Asked if he felt the FIA move on rear wings was something that could have influenced the competitive picture, team principal Christian Horner said: “Small details do make a difference, and particularly when the cars have converged as they have.
“It's all about marginal gains. That's what Formula 1 is all about. So yes, inevitably, there will be a difference from it [the FIA clarification]. How material it is will vary from circuit to circuit.”
But McLaren team boss Andrea Stella, whose squad still leads the constructors’ championship, is sceptical that the level of impact prompted by the changes will make a noticeable difference – especially because he thinks quite a few outfits had to make modifications.
“I would be surprised that there's only a couple of teams that had to make adaptations to the rear wing,” he said.
“Our rear wing was adjusted after Baku, following some of the conversations we have had, and with the FIA providing some references as to what they would like to see.
“But this is a really minor element in terms of car performance. It does not have to do with any performance switch from event to event.
“None of the performance that we see, being better, being worse, should be associated with this. And I think this is not only for McLaren, it's for any team, with the fact that some teams might have been asked to adjust the behaviour of the rear wing.”
When McLaren was originally advised to change its ‘mini-DRS’ wing, it urged the FIA to expand its probing to other competitors, as it felt there was exploitation of slot gap openings happening elsewhere.
Stella believes that the FIA’s most recent note will have prompted others to revise their designs, but he does not think that will have an impact in slowing them down.
"Certainly, there were some other teams that were opening the slot gap,” he said. “My expectation is that these teams would have been subject to the same requests as we have been.
“From an engineering point of view, even when I see that they were opening the slot gap a little bit, and I think they might have been asked to reduce it, I'm expecting pretty much zero effect in terms of 'these things will change their performance'.
“This is not what makes the performance of an F1 car, at least not to a level that is noticeable, measurable or quantifiable from one event to the other.”
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