Mercedes ready to protest flexi wings as Toto Wolff criticises FIA's "half-baked" solution

Christian Horner and Toto Wolff in conversation — Photo: © LAT Images

Monaco Grand Prix

Mercedes ready to protest flexi wings as Wolff criticises FIA's "half-baked" solution

Mercedes boss believes new rule clarification leaves teams in "no man's land"

Ian Parkes & Will Gray

Thursday 20 May 2021 14:00 Updated: 14:10

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Toto Wolff has warned that Mercedes could protest the use of flexible wings by Red Bull and other teams after a “half-baked” technical directive from the FIA left teams in “no man's land.”

Mercedes team principal Wolff believes the new test, which will be introduced from the French Grand Prix, should have been brought in sooner to avoid the results of this weekend’s Monaco and subsequent Baku races being left under question.

Wolff said: “We have seen in the past that complicated re-designs for teams have a delay.

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"It’s clear if you have a back-to-back race, or maybe even two weeks, it's too short for everyone to adjust, but we have four weeks [from the May 11 introduction of a new technical directive] to Baku.

“It is incomprehensible that in four weeks you can’t stiffen up a rear wing for the track that is probably the most affected by flexible rear wings. So that leaves us in no man's land.

“The technical directive says that the movement of some rear wings has been judged as excessive, so teams who run these kinds of wings are prone to be protested and probably this is going to go to the ICA (International Court of Appeal) and nobody needs this messy situation.”

Sitting alongside Wolff, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto and Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi both conceded to their teams running flexible wings.

Wolff believes the new test, which will evaluate wings under 'pull-back' and 'push-down' forces, will not resolve the issue and said it leaves the rules even more open to manipulation.

Asked if his team would have to adapt its wing on the W12, Wolff replied: “Yes, we will need to modify our wing. We will need to soften it. Our wing is extremely rigid, complying to the famous article 3.8 that it must remain immobile.

“The new test that has been introduced is a half-baked solution which is giving us an opportunity, so the whole thing can soften and can bend more in the future.

“Each of us three here is doing the job and needs to adapt to the regulations and we have been left in limbo for a long time.

“We had a flexible wing situation last summer without receiving any feedback and we understand some of the teams’ frustration that when making the concept of this year’s car, that was an area that should have been tackled much earlier.”

When asked similarly about the wing designs on the Ferrari and Alpine cars, Binotto and Rossi openly stated there would have to be changes made for them to pass the new test.

Binotto said: “Yes, we are exploiting, I think, as all the teams are exploiting somehow what is possible and what we believe is right. The technical directive is clarifying furthermore. We will need to slightly adapt.

“I don’t think it’s impacting Ferrari much, and certainly on the lap times from what we have seen very, very little, but there are some re-designs that need to be carried out to comply fully to the technical directive.”

Rossi said: “We have designed a car that conforms to the regulations. If the tests prove we have to comply with a new set of rules then we will do that.” When pressed, he then added: “We are going to make the modifications.“