The FIA is introducing new tests from the French GP to ensure the rear wings don’t bend too much and give some teams on the straights a speed advantage when going straight ahead.
But Vasseur is unfazed by what happened, saying the new testing procedure effectively changed the rules and violated teams that fully followed the rules as they were written.
For a little outfit like Alfa Romeo, he thinks the tweak is extremely unfair and he doesn’t understand why such an expensive change was introduced mid-season.
“We will have time for it [change the wing]but it’s going to cost us a fortune, ”he said.
“We’re all fighting to save money to only have one person on the line, and then we have these kinds of things that … it’s just a joke. A joke for me. “
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Vasseur believes the impact on lap time will be minimal and he is concerned that the way the Flexi Wing saga has been handled means that other areas of the car could be changed mid-season as well.
When asked how big the time difference between the wings is, he said, “Honestly, it will be marginal.
“We did the back-to-back a couple of times and the difference wasn’t huge. But it’s not about my concern. Is that why we’re not going to change the weight of the car next week? Because a team cannot reach the limit … “
Vasseur believes the FIA acted unfairly because a number of teams created wings that fully conformed to the rules of the time, but they are the ones who are now facing costly changes.
“We had the regulations with maximum deformation and load, and I think we did [at Alfa Romeo] aren’t smarter than the others, ”he said.
“Everyone stuck to the limit and the FIA decided to change the limit. It’s a bit of a surprise, but they’ve changed the load and deformation over the course of the season.
“It’s not the introduction of a new test [that is the issue], or a new way to run the test is that you changed a value. And for me this is the first time that we see something like this.
“Because when you’re at your limit, when you’ve done a good job, you have to produce new grand pianos. In terms of cost savings, that’s a huge, huge, huge effort. “
He added: “The business of Formula 1 engineers and designers is to design parts at the limit of the regulations.
“If you change the regulations over the course of the season, you have to design new parts and tell the teams that they are not affected, that’s a joke.”
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner estimates the wing saga will cost teams forced to switch wings around $ 500,000.
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