Key Mercedes W17 change as FIA takes action over Ferrari query
The FIA has issued a document clamping down on some tams designs.
The FIA issued a critical technical document ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, clarifying aspects of permitted diffuser designs.
The governing body has moved to shut down increasingly elaborate diffuser designs, with a technical directive issued to the teams to clarify new permissions related to the trailing edge winglets and stays.
FIA issues key technical clarification over diffuser design
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The FIA has moved to clamp down on complex diffuser designs that had started to emerge as teams began to roll out with updates to their cars.
The clampdown has been effected by way of an official clarification document, which has traditionally been known as technical directives – this terminology has now been phased out along with the streamlined rulebooks and the tweaks have been confirmed to the teams by way of an ‘FIA F1 Document’ number 104.
The clarifications pertain to Article C3.2.6 of the technical regulations, which covers ‘fillet and edge radius’ of the trailing edges of the diffuser.
The matter is said to have been brought to the FIA’s attention by way of a standard querying of a design, with Ferrari understood to have sought clarity on the diffuser design of the Mercedes W17 as well as proposing a new design of its own.
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While the FIA has had an open mind to the trailing edge designs around the stays as the teams have sought to use the area for aerodynamic load gain, the increasingly imaginative approaches from some of the teams had become a concern and, following Ferrari querying its own design, which is said to have seen the introduction of ‘spikes’, the FIA has moved to simplify the areas of permission.
This coincides with the FIA seeking to generally ensure downforce levels don’t climb excessively this year, with a desire to reduce downforce levels next year alongside the tweaks to the power unit formula.
While Ferrari’s proposed design may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back to cause the governing body to issue a clarification, the Scuderia has not been required to make any changes to its current solution: only Mercedes and Racing Bulls are understood to have fallen into the net of what the new clarification requires, and to have been required to make minor changes for this race weekend.
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