Red Bull denounces Ferrari and McLaren: FIA opens an investigation

Here we go again in the saga of flexible wings in F1! After months of tension and backstage accusations, Red Bull has decided to go on the offensive against Ferrari and McLaren by filing an official and accusatory dossier with the FIA.

Red Bull suspects the two rival teams of having found a loophole in the regulations regarding wing flexing, a topic that has been talked about for a while now. Last year, McLaren and Mercedes were already under scrutiny, and McLaren even had to modify its rear wing following the mini-DRS affair that took place in Baku. However, despite the installation of cameras by the FIA to monitor all this, no infraction was detected.

This time, it’s different: Red Bull seems determined not to let it go and has officially alerted the FIA. The result? The organization will send its investigators to Ferrari and McLaren, heading to Maranello and Woking, to take a closer look at everything.

The FIA strengthens its controls

If Red Bull is speaking out, it’s also because the FIA has decided to tighten the regulations from the start of the 2025 season. The controls on the flexing of rear wings will be reinforced with stricter tests, and like last year, cameras will be there to monitor all of this. And be aware that from the 9th round in Barcelona, these tests will not only concern the rear wings but also the front wings. The FIA no longer wants to see borderline concepts slip through the net.

Pierre Wache, Technical Director of the Red Bull team, expressed his concerns directly to the stewards during pre-season testing in Bahrain. And as if that wasn’t enough, the Austrian team pulled out its famous official file.

But Red Bull hasn’t forgotten its own car: the RB21. After a challenging 2024 season in terms of balance, the team has revised a lot of elements to make the car more stable and predictable in corners. « We have re-evaluated all the car’s concepts. We have modified most of the elements that may not be as visible as those of the old car, but many things have changed underneath and inside the car », confides Pierre Wache to the media.

« Last year, we had a rather difficult car and rebalancing it put you in a dead end in terms of setup possibilities. Today, it offers us a wider range of setups to explore ». What do the numbers say? Wache estimates that the new car is about three to four-tenths faster per lap than the RB20 that ended the season in Abu Dhabi.

A war that is just beginning

Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren: the showdown is on. Between the new approach of the RB21 and the pressure on the rivals’ flexible wings, it is clear that 2025 will not be a walk in the park. With evolving regulations and a stricter FIA, the teams will have to double their inventiveness to find performance without falling foul of the new rules.

One thing is certain: it will be played out on all fronts, both on the track and behind the scenes!