Ferrari’s Fred Vasseur criticizes the FIA’s prolonged delay in addressing flexible wings, highlighting their significant impact on performance and budgets.
Fred Vasseur is frustrated by the FIA taking two months to issue a technical directive on flexible wings. Ferrari’s team principal believes this impacted the outcome of the 2024 F1 season.
“I’m a bit frustrated with this situation because it’s clearly a performance issue, and we’ve waited two months to know if it’s legal or not,” Vasseur explained. “And with the budget cap, you always have to keep costs in mind. It means you need to be efficient with the budget.”
“This means if you start developing something and it ends up being a failure, you burn €600,000. We had this discussion with Red Bull’s situation two years ago: it’s not just about burning half a million; it’s half a million out of €150 million.”
“It’s half a million out of three or four million allocated for development, because you have your staff, race costs, and so on, and in the end, you’re left with X million for development.”
“But that X is small, and if you waste half a million for nothing, you can’t spend it elsewhere. And, of course, that’s where, for me, the situation crossed the line.”
The Frenchman is even more annoyed given that flexible wings had a performance impact while margins were tight: “It’s true that the closer the competition, the more attention we pay to details.”
“I’m not sure that when there’s a six-tenths gap between cars, we pay as much attention to details. But in races like Monza, where four or five cars were within less than a tenth, having a flexible wing or something similar makes a huge difference.”
“I think it’s more a consequence of having a strict regulation that’s difficult to develop under, combined with the championship becoming increasingly tight. We can’t redo the season. And it’s not the same approach.”
“One is something we were aware of, and we’re slightly behind in deciding whether to adopt it. The other is a development issue, and we didn’t expect to face this problem. With the wing, it’s simply a mathematical approach.”
Vasseur Slams FIA Over Costly Flexi-Wing Delays Vasseur Slams FIA Over Costly Flexi-Wing Delays
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