2021 has been an ultra-competitive year between two teams, Mercedes F1 and Red Bull. And despite regulations that have been frozen or mastered for several years, these have been a subject of constant disputes between them.
There have of course been, in particular, several episodes on the flexibility of the fins. How to avoid such discord on a completely new regulation, in 2022? Ross Brawn is lucid: the F1 chief executive expects a flurry of sticking points and requests for clarification as teams learn regarding each other’s concepts.
“There will be arguments, there will be complaints. It wouldn’t be Formula 1 otherwise!” he throws.
“There will be a lot. We would be naive to believe otherwise. You take the example of aerodynamic flexibility and that is something we cannot avoid in F1.”
“Aeroelasticity has been a field of study for engineers for a very long time, when they began to appreciate the performance that might be achieved in several areas of a car.
“It’s something the FIA will have to monitor, but, as I said, the governance and the regulations allow for a quick response from the FIA.”
“With all the analysis possible, we should be able to pick up quite quickly what the teams are doing, with the level of photography, video analysis and all kinds of things. The teams are really on top of each other on that side. If you remember all the fuss regarding the fins last season, they are almost self-monitoring each other, so as soon as there is a problem they start waving the ‘red flags’. “
“The FIA will be very quickly aware of any issues of concern, and I’m sure they can deal with them, and have the ability to react overnight. They will be there because until we start seeing all these cars on track for a long time, we will not fully understand the most sensitive areas or what people are doing.
“But it’s part of a Formula 1 team’s arsenal to flex its elements as much as the regulations allow, and that will never change. You can’t uninvent that like you can’t have a 100 fin. % rigid. So it won’t be a more different topic than it has been for the past few years.”
At his side, Nikolas Tombazis, head of single-seaters for the FIA, confirms that “we will always keep an eye on any flexibility and will impose tests if necessary to reduce these effects.”
“With new regulations, it is inevitable that some areas which have not been properly provided for in terms of flexibility will need to be improved over time and we will not hesitate to intervene if we see abuse in certain areas.”
