Otmar Szafnauer agrees with Lewis Hamilton that the upcoming crackdown on “flexible wings” could cost some teams considerable lap time.
The issue was raised by Hamilton at the Spanish Grand Prix, where he claimed that Red Bull used a “twisty wing” in qualifying that they “won at least three-tenths of a second” from.
Four days later, the FIA announced that it would introduce new tests to ban wing designs that “exhibit excessive deflection while in motion” and “can have a significant impact on the vehicle’s aerodynamic performance”.
However, the tests won’t take place until June 15, just before the French Grand Prix, which means the current designs can still be used in Azerbaijan with its long straights – where Hamilton said Red Bulls wings “at least six tenths will probably be worth ”.
Red Bull is reported to be not the only team to use such a design; others include Ferrari, Alpine and Alfa Romeo – the latter duo have been direct competitors of Aston Martin so far this season.
Szafnauer, the Aston Martin team principal, has offered a number in the same range as Hamilton to quantify the benefit of the Flexi-Wing – and also agrees that it depends on the track.
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“It’s very track-specific,” said Szafnauer, quoted by Motorsport.com. “On some tracks it doesn’t help much and on others it helps to have a flexi rear wing.
“I think it will get in our way a little [lower-rake car], maybe a few tenths of a second per lap on average or so. But there are some stretches where you won’t get any benefit and others where it can take up to half a second. “
Aston Martin believes they won’t have to make any changes to their rear wing to pass the new tests – unlike Red Bull, whose team boss Christian Horner expects the changes will cost his team “likely half a million dollars”.
And Szafnauer, like Mercedes and McLaren, is unhappy that the new tests will be introduced sooner after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix than before.
“Designing something that bends just the right amount and passes the test, but still bends, takes a lot of effort,” he said.
“But designing something that is stiff doesn’t take any effort at all. And that happens very, very quickly. “
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