TECHNICAL DIRECTIVES ALREADY!? The FIA's Next 'Mini DRS' Clampdown

complete nonsense

Simple solution... do away with it!

Real men don cry, real men don't need DRS, real men don't do millimeters... and on and on goes the "real men" list. For everything else there is Saint Anthony of Consolation. 🤣

I admit, I'm a pro-new idea person. Any engineering designs (which aren't taking the p!ss; think Lotus' double "skirt", the fan car, etc.) which are within the rules as they stand at a certain agreed upon set date in the prior season (to allow for design changes within both the budget and those rules) should be left alone. Assuming no new set of rules as we'll have in '26, the FIA will have X amount of time during the current year to make any alterations to the following year's rules (e.g. as happened with DAS, F-duct, etc.) I think that's the fairest way to work, it encourages new engineering solutions - which is something F1 used to be renowned for! - and doesn't muck up the budget or the following year's designs.

Anything, like the fan car and so many others, which turn up to testing and is deemed to be a mickey take should be banned from the outset, therefore messing up the team's budgeting. That should help prevent outrageous behaviour by engineers and team bosses, but encourage innovation. The more they limit the abilities of the engineers and designers, the fewer new such people will want to enter the sport, and the closer it gets to becoming a spec series. I have nothing against spec series per se, but F1 is supposed to be like Moto GP - a prototype series. If you're not allowed to invent prototypes, what's the point? Surely the car manufacturers want to see new ideas which could then be adapted for their own products later on, as has happened throughout F1's history. It's about time the manufacturers started to throw their weight around and cut out some certain (M)BS...

I don't think we can draw definitive conclusions on how much it's going to affect who on which track, as there are simply too many variables.
One would lean towards saying McLaren would be the most affected, but given how planted the car was compared to others and how edgy the Red Bull had to be to be anywhere near competetive, I would not expect this to change much in terms of relative performance.

Usually, I'm no fan of significant regulation changes during a season, but I really dislike the way pace is generated by flexing aerodynamic parts.

For starters, I assume some of the R&D to be outside the budget cap by 3rd...4th... 5th... parties and the Teams just being "lucky" to know exactly how to fabricate a part the way that it's just legal by the smallest of possible margins. Because frankly, this stuff is a financial black hole sort of comparable to the tyre wars.

There's also a safety aspect. Those parts are made to exactly match predicted loads. But you can't predict every possible situation, especially when it comes to vibration frequencies and the like, as impressively demonstrated with "porpoising" not too long ago.

Imagine what would happen if a flexi wing goes just that bit out of spec in the 130R at Suzuka or Eau Roughe/Radillion at Spa and surprises the driver with a unexpected "mini DRS".
The good outcome would have been a spectacular repair bill and a rule change, the bad one would be another year of muted celebrations and "how could that have happened".

All teams 'passed' the wing test, at Aus GP. Now we have a knee jerk response, from FIA.

So which is it? Did they pass or not? Is this a CYA move, 'cause they didn't want to scrutinize the Aus GP?

They should enforce zero flexing and turning into a lottery of cars losing wings like 2013 tiregate had with random punctures

Flexing rear wings aren't new, in April 1975 at the Motor Racing Safety Barrier Conference in Toronto Canada there was a round table. The rules had banned movable aerodynamic devices but Denny Hulme noted that one could and did mount the rear wing with 2 rods and a covering flaring. The 1st rod was stiff and mounted about a center load point of the wing and the 2nd rod was a long slender column supporting the rear of the wing, designed to "bend or buckle" but not exceed the permanent deformation point of the slender column under a certain aerodynamic load to reduce drag on the straights.

f1 should be like group b. no regulation except for a cost cap

This is literally impossible to police. There will always be an exploit based on flexibility. FIA needs to rewrite the rules so that all flexible wings are legal so everyone is on a level field.

I certainly expect someone getting disqualified this race week

Ultimately the FIA seems to be moving towards a spec series a la Indy Car. The more you change regulations to bring closer racing, the more you move towards a spec series.

Ahh… Just give everyone the same car and be done with it!…the one thing that makes F1 interesting is innovation and figuring out how to make a car better within the rules. Every time a team comes up with something new or novel it immediately gets nerfed. If anything F1 needs less technical rules, not more.

As a wise sage once said,

Change your fucking car

😂😂😂

Git gud or git rekt scrub

The Classic
"Red Bull didn't think of it first"

Just make F1 spec series at this point... Same chassis for every team. This is ridiculous nowadays. No leeway for innovation, every car looks the same

No Flex Zone

Time to start adding video-based tests when the car is being driven, not just sitting still in the tech area.

Get rid of DRS, get rid of the battery, bring back the V10 and make the cars smaller, put the driving back in the driver's hands, get rid of the no swearing rules, get rid of the FIA president.

4mm = 0.15 inch, dec...

Starting to think the FIA decision-makers are just sitting on twitter and racing to squash everything they see complained about.

1 " (official SI. definition) = 25.4mm = 0,0254 meters.

"exploits" :))
when ferrari is "exploiting" some grey areas, is cheating. when other teams do this, are innovations, maybe "exploits": merc's das, all kinds of flexywings

Has the FIA always been this anti-innovation? Holy shit man.

@AidanMillward RIP Eddie Jordan 🇮🇪

Honestly what is the point in innovation in f1 anymore if teams complain and the fia ban it

Rest jn peace EJ

1 inch = 2,54 cm, sir ...

RB wouldn't be doing their job if they didn't scrutinise the rules to both make sure the rivals are complying and making sure they don't miss a trick.

This is one of the problems with F1. It shouts about being the pinnacle, where the best drivers and most talented engineers come to work and when smart engineers come up with an idea they get people throwing their arms in the air, having a strop and then the good idea gwta banned

Rest in peace to Eddie Jordan former owner of Jordan F1 that is now Aston Martin

I doubt it'll change a thing, but I really hope it'll hurt Red Bull 😂

I know the teams won't be running the same rear wing as Australia but having a TD to change the static loading form 3mm to .75mm (including grace) seems really rushed. It also wouldn't surprise me if some teams can build a new wing in 4 days since F1 is a 24/7 operation now.

The Race showed that the McLaren was one of the slowest cars through the speed trap

Even before this the FIA had already added the camera and the measuring dots and had rules against the wings flexing when all the teams where crying about redbull. I’m still confused as to why this rule isn’t already just been broken.

If anything, the banning of these devices will make the racing more artificial as it puts the focus back on the DRS-effect of the car behind and removes a source of defence for the car ahead.
It's like the FIA are desperate for the overtaking to be as fake as possible so that there's more of it.

pls do an eddie jordan one he meant alot to f1

I think it's a shame that any time a team comes up with something innovative it gets jumped on by the FIA. I think they should police the cost cap, but beyond that let the teams run whatever they want. A V12? ok if you can afford it. A 4 litre single cylinder supercharged 2-stroke? Go for it if you want to. Fan cars? why not? Four driven front wheels and a single steered rear wheel? If you think it'll work, give it a try.

Eddie Jordan will be missed greatly, RIP, I've lost a lot of people to cancer in the last few years...

FIA 2025: NO! YOUR WINGS CAN NOT MOVE!
FIA 2026: Okay, your wings can move now.

I would ask why? when every one has the same rules and can see what every one else is doing via the "question asking".
how many "flex wing" issues have come up and they still have directives that don't cover the gap when open, when closed and when running at speed.

Last year they took away Red Bulls whatever it’s called..the valve thing😂..Red Bull has struggled since then…always going after the front runners..it really hurts the back runners when these components are removed..what they should do is say if you invent something new..you have to make it available to other teams to purchase..

The McLarens advantage is coming from the tires not the wings. There is something going on with the brake ducts that is feeding temperature to cold tires and cooling overheating tires.

Nice video Aidan. Enjoy the weekend

Early season's gonna early season, even if it's possibly FIA induced. Nearly every season does this, you think it's gonna turn out one way, then your prediction wasn't quite right, or was a planet off the mark, when we swing into June or something. Or you're dead on! Never know. It does feel like all of this "wait crap we were too lenient" could've been avoided by clamping down on it properly at the end of last season, rather than spreading it out.

4 MM approximately 3/16

Reminds me of building plywood "one design" racing sailing dinghies in the 1970's. To "measure" as a one design the dimensions were defined as XX ft plus or minus TOLERANCE fraction of an inch. Good builders could build to the extreme end of the tolerances that favoured speed. The boats were legal - but distinctly faster.

The FIA is just determined to unalive any kind of excitement or innovation in the sport.

awesome video, going to be intereting to see what happens, from sprint qualifying it looks good for Ferrari and Red Bull but it is only sprint qualifying so let's wait and see, McLaren where also very quick.

Having both a cost cap which actually seems to be working, but also in-season tech directives which flush team money down the drain, is ridiculous. From time immemorial it has always been a solid rule: do not change rules during the game. Only acceptable reason for in-season changes is to address an actual safety issue. Otherwise, make your rule changes for next season.