Technical Directive 12/05/25

[AR3-GP]

Skid design concerns is a new one.

[marcel171281]

Keep also in mind that Imola 2024 was one of the first races were they suddenly started to show massively better on the tyres, specially in the last stint. Verstappen could barely hold Norris off. That has been that way mostly all races (apart from very cold races like Vegas) after that. Suddenly it is not the case anymore? Before Piastri pitted he was losing more and more to Verstappen per lap. Haven't seen that since Miami 2024 I think.

Some were saying this track suites the RB better, well not in 2024 on race pace that was.

[organic]

Skid design concerns is a new one.

Anybody noticeably running higher at Imola? I would argue mercedes did not exhibit their usual ridiculously low ride height at Imola (the one that Albon called out saying it must be illegal at Miami)

[Henk_v]

If I let my speculation run totally wild;

End of last year teams found out that if you drive long enough on a tire, it comes back alive.

Any rubber needs to be vulcanised. Rubber is like chewing gum and needs to be heat treated to become rubber. The issue with any rubber product is that the core always heats up later in the tire mould. The surface is alway slightly overcooked and the inside a bit undercooked. There are many ways this can be minimised, especially in the formulation of the rubber recipe.
Adding to that challenge, many different compounds are used in a tire. Each needs to be formulated to need exactly the same vulcanisation parameters to make sure all parts are equally vulcanised.

One technique is post curing. The slightly undercooked rubber is heat treated at just below the vulcanisation temperature for some time to acheive uniform vulcanisation.

What if thatbis what we saw, that the tires became better because they were really hot fpr a long period.

What if they discovered that keeping the tires for a long time in really hot blankets improved the tires and they just did that overnight, cooling them back before the race?

[AR3-GP]

It's been issued. There's nothing we can do about it. There will need to be more races. Even then you could offer other explanations like Red Bull's upgrades, flexiwing ban, and bad updates for Mclaren.

Mclaren casted the same aspersions last year. "we didn't expect that much improvement, the others were not as fast as expected, blah blah". The teams are playing games here.

Looking forward to the Italian reports anyway. They will waste no time burying Mclaren if there is a story here

[marcel171281]

Skid design concerns is a new one.

Anybody noticeably running higher at Imola? I would argue mercedes did not exhibit their usual ridiculously low ride height at Imola (the one that Albon called out saying it must be illegal at Miami)

RB wasn't for sure, I always watch the Verstappen onboard during races, it was scraping like mad on the ground.

[marcel171281]

If I let my speculation run totally wild;

End of last year teams found out that if you drive long enough on a tire, it comes back alive.

Any rubber needs to be vulcanised. Rubber is like chewing gum and needs to be heat treated to become rubber. The issue with any rubber product is that the core always heats up later in the tire mould. The surface is alway slightly overcooked and the inside a bit undercooked. There are many ways this can be minimised, especially in the formulation of the rubber recipe.
Adding to that challenge, many different compounds are used. Each needs to be formulated to need exactly the same vulcanisation parameters to make sure all parts are equally vulcanised.

One technique is post curing. The slightly undercooked rubber is heat treated at just below the vulcanisation temperature for some time to acheive uniform vulcanisation.

What if they discovered that keeping the tires for a long time in really hot blankets improved the tires and they just did that overnight, cooling them back before the race?

The heat treatment of the tyres is strictly regulated. Would be slam dunk disqualification.

[Henk_v]

Pardon my ignorance. Quite often it is found that a way is found around the wording. Which is them patched with a TD

In that case, "tire treatment" must be about water vanouds then

[pantherxxx]

Maybe it was water after all. That's why they didn't find anything at inspection, because it was evaporated, but the TD somehow prevents them from using again. This is pure speculation of course. But possible.

[Farnborough]

Skid design concerns is a new one.

Anybody noticeably running higher at Imola? I would argue mercedes did not exhibit their usual ridiculously low ride height at Imola (the one that Albon called out saying it must be illegal at Miami)

They were trying in FP .... there's in car from GR following KA and giving running commentary about floor strike severity. Assuming they lifted it for Q & race running.

Great plume of plank dust exit to rear diffuser expansion, that seemed mostly toward v-max from my recall.

[Rikhart]

Skid design concerns is a new one.

Anybody noticeably running higher at Imola? I would argue mercedes did not exhibit their usual ridiculously low ride height at Imola (the one that Albon called out saying it must be illegal at Miami)

I had completely forgotten about that, it is interesting indeed!

[Luscion]

Skid design concerns is a new one.

Anybody noticeably running higher at Imola? I would argue mercedes did not exhibit their usual ridiculously low ride height at Imola (the one that Albon called out saying it must be illegal at Miami)

They were trying in FP .... there's in car from GR following KA and giving running commentary about floor strike severity. Assuming they lifted it for Q & race running.

Great plume of plank dust exit to rear diffuser expansion, that seemed mostly toward v-max from my recall.

Russell also reported bouncing on his own car

[f1isgood]

Mercedes had too many changes to isolate their performance to one deciding factor.

This TD is interesting but unless the performance fall off is clear over a few races, I'd wait to judge any team.

[AR3-GP]

I agree. Until there's a proven decline in any particular teams fortunes, it's too difficult to say. Even then you could blame everything on the flexiwing ban in Spain. Monaco will offer no reference point.

[Cs98]

The first TD relates to the measurement of skid block materials and the way that some teams had found clever ways to pass the probe tests that measure the depth of the plank after the race.

The TD clarified the type of materials that can be used in the area of the skids, plus how they could be mounted, in a bid to stop teams trying to find ways to run closer to the limit but still pass the minimum depth test.

Any team that had been exploiting this area in the past to help run their car lower to the ground would have had to lift it up for the Imola race.

A second TD did not change any of the FIA's interpretations of regulations but was instead the publication of a communication between the governing body and Red Bull relating to some questions about devices that could potentially be allowed to help with tyre cooling.

It is understood that the FIA made clear that a host of design ideas relating to the use of water cooling of wheel assemblies and tyres, plus other systems, would not be allowed.

This type of dialogue between teams and the governing body, where ideas are suggested only to be ruled out, is commonly used to smoke out concepts that rivals could be running to exploit grey areas of the regulations.

With the FIA publishing to all teams its guidance to Red Bull on what it felt would not be allowed, this would rule out any of its competitors being able to continue running anything covered in these documents.

Full article https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/fia- ... en-battle/

So there seems to be one legit TD regarding the skid block, this could potentially have real consequences for teams that were doing something there. The second TD isn't so much a TD but a clarification on RB's queries. Maybe this does catch someone out, but seems unlikely given the FIA have already looked into it.