FIA comes clean on the intricate thought process behind flexi-wing clampdown

FIA changed their rulings on the aerodynamic deflection of the front and rear wings before the 2025 season started. However, the governing body had no plan to change the rules surrounding such deflections at the end of the 2024 season. This led people to question why there was a sudden change of heart, and FIA single seater director, Nikolas Tombazis, has revealed the true reason behind this move.

F1 teams are known to find grey areas in the regulations and find every bit of performance potential under their belt to get an edge over their rivals. While the FIA's rules and tests initially left almost no scope for such trickery in the ground effect era of regulations, teams eventually found their way around the system.

The deflection of the rear wings was made evident by Oscar Piastri's DRS flap opening up a slot gap at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Despite the massive deflection, FIA retained its initial stance on not changing the rules.

Witnessing the regulatory body's unwillingness to introduce stringent tests for the aerodynamic deflection of the wings, teams started throwing money at making such designs that would pass the mandated test and provide them a performance advantage. However, this caused the projected figures of the teams (especially McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, and Alpine) to be in line with the flexi-wing design path to increase tremendously.

FIA then interpreted that they made a mistake by not introducing stricter tests surrounding the whole ordeal. This urged them to change the regulations hastily, as Tombazis explained, via The Race:

"I guess I said this [in the interview] a bit too quickly back then, and with the benefit of hindsight, I would have rather not said that. After the season, we analyzed all the data we had gathered with the cameras and so on, and we felt that the trend was that these deflections would continue to increase a lot.

"We felt that we could end up in the middle of the season with fairly large deformations and again, a lot of complaints and pressures and so on. So we felt, rather than wait for the middle of the season and so on, let's try to act a bit more decisively early on. That's why we revised our view around December time."

F1 teams have always been known for utilizing loopholes, whether the introduction of the double diffuser in 2009 by Brawn GP or the DAS (Dual-Axis Steering) system in 2020 by Mercedes.

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FIA understands that teams will always try to maximize their performance advantage by any means

F1 grid at the Chinese Grand Prix - Source: Getty

FIA is aware of this intrinsic nature of the teams. Nikolas Tombazis shed light on this topic and asserted how the manufacturers will always try to have the maximum advantage, and said, via RacingNews365:

"Teams are always playing the game. I don't think they are there for charitable reasons. They will always try to get the maximum advantage."

While the Chinese Grand Prix saw increased testing for the rear wing's DRS and main plane, a further rule change will be incorporated for front wing flexibility down the line.

The Spanish Grand Prix will see the introduction of stricter load tests for front wings, which could take away some advantage from teams that had mastered the front wing's strength-to-flexibility ratio.