Toto Wolff is not too happy with FIA’s handling of the Red Bull’s bib/t-tray matter, as F1 rivals Ferrari and McLaren puts their faith on the governing body.
In the lead-up to the F1 US GP weekend, reports of Red Bull being checked for a device to control ride height started to circulate. It alleged that the team could alter the height with a device located at the bib/t-tray area of the floor – unable to be viewed via the naked eye.
Over the weekend, the FIA not just checked for the device at Red Bull, but also went around at other F1 teams to see how they run it. The part was sealed and Red Bull was asked to make modifications. While McLaren and Ferrari seemingly left it on the governing body, Mercedes didn’t feel right.
Wolff wanted to use a better word than ‘outrageous’ to showcase his displeasure when speaking to media, but stuck to that word in the end. He questioned Red Bull for even making the device if it didn’t help and feels that even though Nikolas Tombazis has closed the matter, there will be discussions.
“My view is from the distance of what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard, it’s outrageous,” said Wolff to media. “I really like that when they put this real ‘broom’ in the car to demonstrate how that is only way of that getting changed. I wonder how long it took them to make this, and to stick it in there? And I didn’t know that in F1 we were using such devices.
“It’s not good enough to say ‘You know, that’s it. Promise I’m not going to do it again’. Why would you design such a thing, and put two marks on it for two positions? Is that the precise decision making in F1? I cannot speak for the FIA at all. I cannot speak for Nikolas. Obviously that’s something that’s been not spotted for a long time.
“I think we’re all designing parts that are F1 standard, that are to the highest specifications. We’re designing parts that are within the regulations. Sometimes on things like aero elasticity, you would probably try to go as far as you can. But there are certain parts which you would question why they exist. They [the FIA] haven’t just seen it for a long time when they should have.
“I think the leadership of the FIA is going to look at that, and say, ‘What are we doing with this?’,” summed up Wolff. This may go back to the time when Mercedes were forced to abolish the DAS design when they were fighting against Red Bull for the championship.
But it remains to be seen if he gets the support from his F1 rivals. His good mate Frederic Vasseur left it on the FIA to deal with it and put his focus on the things at Ferrari rather than others. McLaren’s Andrea Stella too put their faith on the governing body in the matter.
“For the floor situation, it is in the hands of the FIA, it is not my job,” said Vasseur to media. “I have to trust the FIA on this. But what can I say? First, I can’t make any comment on it more, I am not in the car, I am not in the scrutineering, I am not in the garage, the only thing I can do is trust the FIA.
“It is not on the Ferrari perspective, it is not for me to decide if something is legal or not, again I am not in the car, my job is to be focused on what we are doing, to try to do a better job next weekend from this weekend, to try to improve details and the legality of the other cars, I have to trust the FIA on it.”
And Stella added: “Can I say with complete certainty about whether there’s ever been anything irregular No. Can I say that the matter is closed? Yes, absolutely. This matter at this stage of its development can be faced in different ways. You can close the matter, or you can keep pursuing the matter.
“But my point of view specifically is that when these kind of topics are in the hands of the FIA, the technical department, they are capable people with more information than we have as teams, and more tools to acquire more information than we have. They have the expertise. For me, I just trust what they do.
“And if the FIA think that the matter is closed, I take it at face value, I accept it, the matter is closed, and I move on. We as competitors, we should try and be more respectful of the FIA, because it’s not easy. It’s one of those roles that I wouldn’t exchange, because they are trying to stop competitors from trying to maximise the performance.
“Sometimes this performance is white, sometimes it’s grey, sometimes it’s black. In this case, if there was a practice of adjusting the front floor in parc ferme, in that case, that’s simple, it’s black. But interestingly, it doesn’t leave any trace. So, you don’t know if this happened or not.”
Having been part of the FIA before, Visa Cash App RB’s Laurent Mekies shared his view as well. “I was at the FIA and therefore, I fully trust the FIA,” he said. “Seriously, there is many, many things you cannot trust in a race car. And the Parc Ferme is not exactly a new rule. It’s been there for 15 years.
“So for 15 years, the FIA had to watch if we were not adjusting stuff that we could mechanically adjust during that time from qualifying to the race. so there is nothing new there. So I don’t think it’s a new additional stress. You can change your front ride height or your rear ride height or your anti-roll bar or your damper settings probably with a click or a spanner. But the FIA make sure that you don’t do that.
“And we have cameras and we have the marshals with us in our garage around the car during the whole time in which we are in the garage between the end of the quali to the start of the race. So I don’t think it’s a new concern. I think the FIA has to ensure that we don’t touch at all any of the car specifications or settings and I don’t think there is anything new here.”
Here’s Red Bull, McLaren drivers + Lewis Hamilton, Christian Horner, Zak Brown say
Here’s FIA, Red Bull dialogue
Here’s Andrea Stella on potential complaints from McLaren
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact