F1 team bosses discuss the topic of the new rear wing of Aston Martin which has sent some waves in the paddock in terms of using technical regulations.
Towards the end of the first half of the 2022 F1 season, Aston Martin brought a significant rear wing update which raised some eyebrows in the paddock about the legality of the system with regards the airflow having an armchair endplate.
The discussion among the team bosses is whether this is allowed going forward and naturally the topic is the FIA office. From Aston Martin side, they feel that everything was checked upon by the F1 team and only then went ahead this type of rear wing.
Here’s what the bosses said regarding the new rear wing:
Mike Krack: “Throughout the development of… I mean, developing a wing or developing ideas, you normally do not wait until the last moment before you show it. So, we were in touch with the FIA, all along the development, to understand if this is something that will be accepted. And it finally was, so that was for us the moment where we said, ‘OK, we go for it’. Now, yeah, I think there is nothing special at the end of the day. It’s an interpretation of the rules and we developed a wing, according to that, in conjunction with FIA. And that’s it basically. And I’m not concerned about supermajority or anything. If the rules are changing, or these kinds of designs are not allowed, we will cope with it.
Christian Horner: “I guess if it complies with the regs, that’s the main thing. It opens up another avenue that’s interesting. And maybe for once will copy something off an Aston Martin rather than the other way around. So, you never know!
Andreas Seidl: “So far, our sole focus was on ourselves, for sure. We will look into this design, probably in time, and then make our mind up if that’s the route we want to follow as well. But then there’s rules in place, we trust the FIA to make the right calls here in terms of policing them. So far, so good, I would say.”
Alan Permane: “I promise you there’s nine other teams running that in CFD at the moment and if it’s quicker, you’ll see nine more of them, I imagine. I can’t see why that wouldn’t happen if it’s completely legal. I get your point about the intent of the regs but we just want to go fast and be reliable so that’s really for the FIA and Formula One to work out. If they’ve circumvented the intent and I doubt there’s anything that can be done about that this year, possibly for next year but I’m very sure if it’s faster, then you’ll very soon see more of them.
Laurent Mekies: “Same as Alan, really. It’s the best summary. If the FIA says it’s legal then everybody tries. If it’s faster it will come to the cars.”
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