Helmut Marko considers it ‘insane’ that the FIA is changing the rules regarding flexible wings in the middle of the season: front wings are developed and thrown away in June
The fact that the FIA is changing the rules in the middle of the season and tightening the stress tests for the front wings of the Formula 1 cars in Barcelona is not at all well received by Helmut Marko: “Either the new rule applies right from the start of the season or not at all,” the Red Bull motorsport consultant rages to auto motor und sport.
The background to this is a planned FIA directive that revolves around the topic of flexible wings. To prevent the issue from getting out of hand, the association is intervening with less leeway and tougher stress tests to prevent the wings from bending under high loads.
So far, teams have been able to circumvent the intention of the regulations by finding ways to pass the static load tests but still having a wing that bends under the loads on the track.
The problem with this is that while the tests for the rear wing are already stricter from this weekend in Australia, the new guideline for the front wing will not take effect until the Barcelona weekend in June – an absurd state of affairs for Marko.
“Now, apart from the smaller teams, everyone has built a wing that bends. It’s madness that you can throw it away in the middle of the season,” he complains. Because to keep up in the first half, teams basically have to develop their own flexi-wing, which will then be obsolete again.
If it were up to Marko, the FIA would have to be stricter and not allow any gray areas, but that is difficult when it comes to flexi-wings: “A complete inspection of the bending is practically impossible. The teams have a lot more manpower than the FIA,” he says, and sees FIA technical director Nikolas Tombazis alone against an army of engineers in the teams.
“To protect against this, the rules must be clearer. So that there is no room for interpretation in such a framework,” demands Marko. ”If it can’t be verified, it shouldn’t be allowed.”
After all, if the wings become stiffer again from the middle of the season, he sees his protégé Max Verstappen at an advantage, as the cars could become more difficult to balance again. “No one handles a car with handling issues better than Max,” he says.
