Preparation for the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend has been overshadowed by a series of so-called “bendable” wings, with Mercedes and McLaren claiming that bending the rear wing gives rival teams an illegal speed advantage on the straight.
In response, the FIA has confirmed that it will be introducing a series of new tests from next month’s French Grand Prix to tackle teams who take advantage of the regulations.
Vasseur did the tweak that he described as extremely unfair, especially for smaller teams like his Alfa Romeo squad.
“It will affect everyone because at the end of the day we had the regulations and even if some teams disagree because they don’t want to reveal their own game,” he said.
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“But at the end of the day we had regulations with the maximum deformation and load and I think we [Alfa Romeo] are no smarter than the others.
“Everyone stuck to the limit and the FIA decided to change the limits. What is surprising is that they have changed the load and deformation over the course of the season.
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“It’s not the introduction of a new test or a new way of doing the test, it’s that they changed the value, and for me this is the first time I’ve remembered seeing something like this. If you are the limit, if you have done a good job, you have to produce new grand pianos. “
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes teams will have to spend around $ 500,000 to switch wings.
Although Vasseur refused to give an estimate with Horner, he admitted that the change would ultimately cost Alfa Romeo “a fortune”.
“In terms of cost savings, it’s a huge, huge, huge expense for everyone,” he said.
“We will have time for it [change the wing]but it will cost us a fortune.
“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. “
Horner described suggestions that the changes could be worth up to six tenths of the lap time gain as “ridiculous,” adding that he would be surprised if it were close to a tenth.
And Vasseur also doubts the changes will significantly change the performance of the cars.
“Honestly, it will be marginal,” he said. “We did the back-to-back a couple of times and the difference wasn’t huge.
“But that’s not my concern, 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.
“I’m a little annoyed with the approach,” added Vasseur. “Introducing a new test is a different matter, but changing the value of the test is not fair at all.
“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.”
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