FIA reportedly issues new technical directive after complaints from Red Bull; Ferrari and Mercedes in the spotlight

The FIA has issued a new technical directive after complaints from Red Bull, according to a report. This could potentially hamper the performance of its rivals, Ferrari and Mercedes, heading into the Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend. The reigning world champion is in a tight battle for the constructors' championship with Ferrari and McLaren with just three races remaining in the 2024 season.

The Austrian team trails McLaren by 49 points and the Italian team by 13 points. As per Motorsport.com, its chances may be getting a significant boost in terms of performance as the FIA's new technical directive has banned the use of protective skid blocks on the floor of cars.

Teams such as Ferrari, Mercedes, and Haas, were using skid blocks to help limit wear on the planks. Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc were disqualified from the 2023 US Grand Prix after Stewards found more wear on the two cars' planks than allowed, after the race.

It is understood that Red Bull flagged the issue after Ferrari had supposedly taken advantage of the provision of having metal skid blocks to go beyond what the guidelines intend to allow. The sport's governing body reportedly accepted the Milton Keynes-based outfit's argument of teams finding loopholes in the previous directive and issued a new directive ahead of the race in Las Vegas.

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Ferrari drivers preview the Las Vegas GP this weekend

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz believes that the Las Vegas track will favor the Italian team more than the championship leader McLaren, given the low downforce configuration.

Speaking with F1.com, the Spanish driver said,

“I think looking at the layout of the track you would say yes, we should be competitive, or at least in the mix. When you feel the temperatures and you know how much we struggle sometimes switching on the tires this year and everything else, then definitely not. So there’s two factors – we’ll see how they clash with each other and who performs better this weekend.”

He added,

"If they don’t put a foot wrong from here to the end, it doesn’t matter if we win and come second every race, I think McLaren can probably still hang onto it. There are also two tracks [in Qatar and Abu Dhabi] that are more McLaren than Ferrari. This one [Las Vegas] is more Ferrari than McLaren, but at the same time, the temperature is not, so we’ll see how it pans out."

Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc said the team was "calm" heading into the final three races of the season with the possibility of winning a title looming large, adding,

“I think it’s very calm! Everybody’s very calm and this is a really good thing. I think it wasn’t like that a year or two years ago. The feeling was very, very different. We would get very excited or be affected a bit more by what was going on. Now it’s not the case anymore. I feel like we are a lot more solid as a team and we don’t really get emotionally high or low."

The Maranello-based outfit has four competitive sessions remaining to outscore McLaren and claim its first title in 16 years.