The FIA declares Red Bull and Ferrari’s flexi floor illegal
The FIA intervenes and declares a part of Red Bull and Ferrari's floor illegal as of the French Grand Prix.
Update as of July 8th:
The implementation date of the new measure is postponed to the Belgian Grand Prix and not the French Grand Prix.
The new technical regulations established by the FIA in order to reduce “planking” at the Canadian Grand Prix are supposed to come into effect starting from the French Grand Prix. Section 13 of this technical directive states that the maximum flexibility of the floor and “plank” must not exceed 2mm vertically.
This wooden board (which is not actually made of wood nowadays, note) has been present since 1990 and serves as a measuring tool to limit the minimum height of the car. In case of excessive wear of this part, caused by friction with the ground if the car is too low, the FIA disqualifies the offending car.
This board still exists and its usefulness in 2022 is even more important as cars bounce and rub heavily against the ground. Although the wear of this board is not a problem for anyone, its flexibility is being called into question.
A “loophole” in the regulation.
In this case, the FIA discovered during the initial tests in Canada that a discreet loophole in the regulations existed. Indeed, these technical directives mention two specific parts of the board, but the part located under the driver is not directly mentioned.
Ferrari and Red Bull have utilized this flexibility to provide more cushioning to their drivers, which in turn also reduces bouncing. The measured flexibility does indeed exceed 2mm, but since the specific section of the board in question is not directly mentioned in the technical directive, this technique is presumed to be legal.
For Wolff, this is not normal.
However, Toto Wolff intervened to ask the FIA to reconsider the wording in order to make this little trick illegal. Nobody knew about it before the FIA mentioned it during the last technical directives conference.
« It was a big surprise for all the teams because what is written in the regulations and its interpretations is quite clear. There is no argument to justify why their boards should be more flexible than the standard. It’s a bit of a surprise, not to mention a complete shock.
»
Red Bull and Ferrari will be allowed to use this flat floor at the Austrian Grand Prix, but they will not be able to use the same flexibility starting from the French Grand Prix.
