FIA To Increase load weight on front wings for Spa

[The Cat]

Very revealing

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85817

[SennaMan]

I thought I would copy & paste the  AUTOSPORT article for convenience:

FIA to ramp up wing tests for Belgium

By Jonathan Noble Sunday, August 1st 2010, 18:15 GMT


The FIA has moved to try to bring an end to Formula 1's flexible front wing row by telling teams it will ramp up the deflection tests from the next race in Belgium, AUTOSPORT has learned.

In the wake of complaints from a number of teams about possible flexing of the front wings of the Red Bull Racing and Ferrari cars at high speed, even though nothing has been found to be wrong with the two machines, the FIA wrote to teams after the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday telling them it was going to attempt to clear up the matter.

AUTOSPORT understands that from the next event at Spa-Francorchamps, the FIA has activated Article 3.17.8 of F1's technical regulations, which allows it to increase load deflection tests at any point to prevent teams being able to run flexible wings.

Article 3.17.8 states: "In order to ensure that the requirements of Article 3.15 are respected, the FIA reserves the right to introduce further load/deflection tests on any part of the bodywork which appears to be (or is suspected of), moving whilst the car is in motion."

At the moment the endplates on the front wing are allowed to flex by a maximum of 10mm when a load of 50 kilogrammes (500 Newtons) is applied to them.

The FIA has told teams now that it reserves the right to increase that test up to 100 kilogrammes - and it will only allow a linear increase of deflection up to 20mm.

The linear increase is designed to ensure that teams are not using clever material design to ensure that their cars pass the deflection test to stay within the regulations but then flex much more at higher loads.

It is also understood that the FIA is to clamp down on teams using clever fixings and joints on the underfloor of the car – amid suspicions that this is one area that teams could also be exploiting the regulations.

Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn, who had sought clarification from the FIA about the flexible wing regulations, confirmed on Sunday night that he expected the tests to change for Spa.

"I understand that there may be some changes in the way the tests are done, but obviously the cars involved pass the current tests," he said prior to the document from the FIA being sent out. "And the argument is that if they pass the current test, then the tests are not correct.

"You can clearly see on the track that there is quite a dramatic difference between the cars, which is part of the game – I've been there myself so what normally happens is that the FIA improve the tests and I think that is what is going to happen.

"I think the FIA recognises that the disparity between the cars on the track does not reflect the situation where there are tests intended to keep all the wings at a similar stiffness and similar performance."

Brawn added that he hoped the new tests would help clear up the matter – and prevent his team joining a number of rival outfits in being forced to develop expensive flexible wing technology.

"That is our dilemma at the moment. It is our dilemma, McLaren's dilemma. I don't know how they do it yet, but if we devoted enough resource to it then I am sure we could end up in the same situation. But we would rather not do it.

"So we want to see some clarity because it would be very relevant for next year. And if that is considered the accepted approach, then we will want to tackle it for next year."

Red Bull Racing has been unruffled by the row over its front wings, but Hungarian GP winner Mark Webber said on Sunday that he had started to get annoyed that rivals were complaining about the great job his team had done.

"Our guys have broken their balls to design a car in the spirit of the regulations, and every time we are tested by the FIA, we pass," he said.

[sorry mark, in view of the INTENTION of the regulations RBR's flexible front wings are clearly not in the spirit of the regs.]

"The car has always been passed by the FIA, so when people don't like (what they see on) the stopwatch, they have to justify their own positions in some other teams sometimes, and when there's pressure on people to perform and they're getting destroyed, that's how it is."

He added: "We're more than happy with what we have on the car and we're sleeping well at night, the guys, when they have inspections from the FIA that we're doing enough."

[The Cat]

Sorry I was on my Laptop, I find it impossible to cut and paste on that thing!!


I Completely agree with your comment that the RB6 whilst technically legal, is not within the spirit of the rules.

I'm also getting a little sick of RB rentboy Coulthards "I wont have a bad word said about Red Bull or their car" standpoint!

[John S]

Since when did anyone in F1 pay the slightest bit of attention to the spirit of the regs. The only time we ever hear the phrase is when another team wants to pressure the FIA to further investigate something that has been passed in scrutineering. The only spirit the late great Colin Chapman, and others, favoured was in the bar to celebrate a win.

Now if these new increased weight tests reveal that the RBR and Ferrari wings are illegal, in fact and not just in spirit, will they simply have to comply from the next race or will it throw out previous race results where they are known to have run the wings ???? 



 

[cosworth151]

The FIA might have a hard time proving that they used the same wings. "Oh, it's externally the same, but we lightened it." "Oh, the material must have weakened from the stress of the last race, causing it to flex more." 

[SennaMan]

..........Now if these new increased weight tests reveal that the RBR and Ferrari wings are illegal, in fact and not just in spirit, will they simply have to comply from the next race or will it throw out previous race results where they are known to have run the wings ???? 

well John we do know the FIA is likely to do anything but if the new tests deem the wings illegal, a precedent set at the Aussie GP, Melbourne in 2007 will probably be followed. Then FERRARI was ordered to replace an offending part for the next race with no penalties [retrospective or otherwise] applied.

It turned out to be a favourable and crucial decision as KR won that race and he went on to win the 2007 WDC, beating lewis HAMILTON by one point, [I think].

....and that's after charlie WHITING knew the movable floor of the FERRARI was probably illegal three days before the Melbourne race.

....but that's another scandalous story in itself!

[....please let me recount it some time]

[Jericoke]

Since when does anyone get caught up in the 'spirit' of the rules in F1?

It's about the letter, and it always has been.  Getting the fastest possible car possible, while squeezing every single thousandths of a second out of the rules IS the spirt of F1.

[lkjohnson1950]

It was rather silly of the FIA to use a test weight that is only about 1/4 of what the wing generates in down force. Kudos to Red Bull and Ferrari, that kind of clever engineering is what F1 is about. Sad that the tech is being compromised by cost.

Lonny