Red Bull and Mercedes have come at each other over the course of the 2021 F1 season. One of the talking points in their fight was the Mercedes rear wing, which Red Bull wanted the FIA to review to ensure it conformed to the sport’s regulations.
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The team led by Christian Horner asked the governing body to carry out some tests on the rear wing. As a result, the FIA conducted an extensive investigation to check the rear wings of every team on the grid.
For the 2022 season, the FIA intends to carry out further tests on the rear wings
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The new tests on the rear wing were not intended to detect violations of the sporting regulations, but rather to tighten the rules for the coming Formula 1 season
Nikolas Tombazis, Formula 1 single-seater boss, said he didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. As quoted by Autosport, he said: “No monkey business or anything like that has been identified in Qatar. We didn’t find anything of concern.
Formula One F1 – Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – December 5, 2021 Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in action with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas during Race Pool via REUTERS/Andrej Isakovic
“It wasn’t a bad test, but it can be improved. So we’re thinking about how we might make some improvements to it for next year [2022], possibly.”
Tombazis noted that one of the difficulties to consider was how the forces were applied to the primary aircraft to reveal any cracked aeroelastic properties that the teams might be using.
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He added: “The reason the test isn’t that good is that technically the trailing edge of the main plane goes pretty much up. When you load it down, it’s pretty stiff, so we want to be able to load it in a normal direction.”
Formula One F1 – Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – December 5, 2021 Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in action with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton during the race REUTERS/Ahmed Yosri
“But then it’s a bit more difficult because we can’t use gravity. So we need to fine tune it and it needs a little more give to be prepared for that. It’s not impossible, of course,” he concluded.
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With the 2022 Formula 1 season just months away, what are your expectations for the next generation of F1 cars? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.
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