Front wings are a massive talking point heading into the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, with the sport’s governing body instituting a new Technical Directive aimed at reducing the flexibility in those components. This impending rule change has been the talk of the paddock in recent weeks, with team principals speculating over how much the new testing and requirements could shake up the pecking order.
Thursday was a chance for the drivers themselves to weigh in.
Media day ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix allowed several drivers to offer their thoughts on the new regulations, with some dismissing them while others pointed to a big swing potentially coming to the grid, even in the midfield.
“Yeah, there’s been obviously a lot of talk regarding this. I don’t think it’s going to affect teams and people as much as people think or as much as is being made about this change of regulation,” said Williams driver Carlos Sainz Jr. in the FIA Press Conference. “It’s still a front wing and still will be, just obviously run a bit stiffer and it will not flex as much as it did. I wouldn’t expect more than one-tenth swing up or down through the field for each team depending on how much you were flexing or not.”
However, pressed by Tom Clarkson on how a “one-tenth swing” could mean “four places on the grid,” Sainz concurred that was a possibility, particularly in the middle of the pack.
“That is true, actually. Especially in our little midfield area.”
His Williams teammate Alexander Albon noted that while Barcelona may not be a track suited for the FW47, the new rule should help the team overall.
“The regulation change suits us but the track doesn’t,” said Albon when speaking to the media Thursday. “You will likely see us fall a bit backwards in general this weekend but not because of the flexi-wings. At the same time, I’m quite optimistic. We haven’t exploited the rules the same as the other teams, so it should benefit us in the longer term.”
Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso was rather diplomatic during the FIA Press Conference, simply referring to the new regulation without offering any insight on how he thinks it could shake up the grid. In the same session, Mercedes driver George Russell outlined that he is not expecting any big changes to the pecking order.
“I think Barcelona will tell us a little bit more about the new package,” said Alonso in the FIA Press Conference. “Imola was a step forward for sure, but also, I think we ran the Medium tires and that helped us in qualifying. And then Monaco is such a special place and Saturday is obviously a key part of the weekend, and we put some good laps on Saturday as well. So, Barcelona, with a more normal weekend, we will discover where we are in terms of performance. But, yeah, I think everyone will bring also some upgrades here, especially with the new regulation with the front wing, and let’s see how much it affects everyone on the grid.
“It’s obviously been two poor races,” described Russell. “We’ve been inside the top five every single session up until Imola. So we’re hoping to get back into our usual form and have a clean weekend. As Fernando said, with the changes to the front wings that have been made, there’s a bit of relearning all of the teams will have to take, but I don’t expect it to shake the order up too much.”
One of the team bosses who does believe the new directive will have an impact — and a big impact at that — is Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur. Speaking at the Monaco Grand Prix last week Vasseur said the new regulation could be a “game-changer” for everyone on the grid. “At least we are working on it for ages now and this can be a gamechanger for everybody, because we don’t know the impact on every single team of the new regulation,” said Vasseur.
His drivers were of a mixed mind on Thursday.
“As a driver it will change the balance a bit. Before, every team was pushing in that direction because it had benefits for the driver and how it felt at high speed,” said Charles Leclerc.
“However, I don’t know how much it will change the pecking order. We know how much it will affect us, not a lot. We don’t know how much it will affect the others.
“Whether it will change who is the fastest team, I don’t think so. Will it change a little bit, yes I think so. What we lose with the flexi-wing, you can reproduce a similar thing with other things.”
Lewis Hamilton called the flexi-wing a “band-aid for quality design,” before noting that he was not sure how the new regulations would impact the grid.
“The flexi-wing was a band-aid for quality design I would say – getting the set-up and creating devices and mechanisms on the car mechanically, all the engineers are able to do it,” began Hamilton.
“It’s still not that easy to get the load that you need on the front end at a low speed, or just rely solely on mechanical grip. So far everyone has been managing, some people better than others.
“This weekend is going to be interesting because we’ve got less flex at the front wing. You have a lot of front end at high-speed corners and less at low speed,” added the new Ferrari driver. “It will be interesting to see how that affects different teams. Some teams probably did a better job than others, so I have no idea how it will affect us.”
The team that many believe could be hurt the most by the new directive is McLaren, who are out to a commanding lead in the Constructors’ Championship race while Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris sit one-two atop the Drivers’ standings.
Neither driver sounded worried about the new regulations on Thursday.
“I think the biggest problem is going to be how overhyped it is, probably,” said Piastri, who is three points ahead of Norris in the Drivers’ Championship standings.
“We know what’s different. I think everyone will have to change, at least to an extent. I’ve not run the front wing but Lando has already run the front wing before, this year. We’re confident that’s not our magic bullet… we don’t have a magic bullet, but that’s not our main strength.”
As for Norris, who won the Monaco Grand Prix last week, he was even more direct when asked by Clarkson at the FIA Press Conference if he was concerned about the new regulations.
“Nope,” said Norris. “Not at all.”
