Flexiwings 2025

[Seanspeed]

More than that, I think people have the wrong logic in thinking that: "If a team's front wing is more flexible than others, they will be hit harder".

Because really, what does that say if a team was competently taking advantage of the existing load tests to their advantage better than others? I would surmise that this team better knows how to create flex within a given load test limitation.

So if you simply increase the load tests a bit more, wouldn't it still make sense that the teams who know how best to create flex under a given load would still be able to find advantage relative to others? It's not like they're creating some entirely new test that will throw off everybody, they're only increasing the existing loads on the current testing design.

Gonna shamelessly bump my own post here from a couple days ago for relevance.

[FittingMechanics]

Seems like a fair statement, at very least in hindsight. So why did they decide to force this TD? For the future so they don’t get too bendy? Politics and optics?

I think it was politics. My guess is that some teams thought flexing is against spirit of the rules and were going to be vocal about it so FIA gave them a compromise, stricter tests for front wings in Spain and stricter rear wings even earlier.

Teams that complained obviously didn't complain about this because they love the spirit of the rules but because they lacked in that area.

Quite stupid and McLaren played it smart by just increasing rigidity. It couldn't have cost them a lot.

[FNTC]

Horners lobbying backfired. It is what it is.

[haza]

Was never going to be a game changer to think one cars advantage comes from a single component flexing is a stretch the McLaren is not a one trick pony but rather a complete package they went aggressive on the mechanical aspect of things on top of a already rounded out package they excel in tyre management combine those 2 together and you start to create a picture on why there so quick teams are always going to try find something to pin them down but that’s formula one always had always will happen

[DDopey]

I am confused why, as it is not a big game changer it was not introduced at the start of the season ?

[vorticism]

Wait til he finds out how much it cost to put him on the podium.

[Sergej]

so much time, energy, money, forum pages, articles, tweets, God knows how many burnt trees to talk about this TD

and what was the effect ? an absolute fart in the universe

[DiogoBrand]

I wonder what's next on the McLaren witch hunt: Standard brake ducts?

[Quantum]

I wonder what's next on the McLaren witch hunt: Standard brake ducts?

Timing beacon cheating paintwork.
Helium filled drivers.
Quantum-field diffusor.
Wormhole exhaust exits.
Flux capacitors.

The whiners might need to invest in some gamma ray cameras. Far better than investing in the car right?

[Ben1980]

Like the rear wing earlier in the season, the front wing change, has all been a big load of nothing. Surprised!

People need to stop believing people on twitter, or take what teams say seriously.

[FittingMechanics]

Guys you have to understand, many of these fans never went through years of McHonda and fighting for minor points with Renault power. To them, there is no formula 1 if they are not fighting for wins. This is why they all need that shot of copium and this TD was perfect for it.

Ferrari fans may understand it slightly, but at least they are always close. McLaren really had a long period of heavy mediocrity that for many teams meant a slow death.

[AR3-GP]

so much time, energy, money, forum pages, articles, tweets, God knows how many burnt trees to talk about this TD

and what was the effect ? an absolute fart in the universe

I don't think that's true.

Mercedes has been much further away on Sundays since they started running their TD compliant package in Imola. Their qualifying performances in Imola and Spain were flattered by tows, but the Sunday performance has been laid bare for all to see. When Toto wolf was asked about the last 3 race weekend, he only responded "Suffering". They are "nowhere". Lewis Hamilton revealed that that when Mercedes introduced the flexiwing package, it transformed their car. The gap between Mercedes and Mclaren/Red Bull is even bigger now. Verstappen made an extra pitstop, and still had a full pitstop advantage over Mercedes before the safety car. This is much bigger than anything we saw before Imola where they started running the TD compliant package.

Ferrari also suddenly had no pace in the race which is very uncharacteristic for them. According to the team thread, their drivers reported balance issues. This can be a symptom of the flexi-wing crack down. The balance window at the different speeds becomes more limited.

To my eye, Mclaren carried their usual hot weather rear axle management advantage over the competition in Spain, but Ferrari and especially Mercedes seem even further away from Red Bull and Mclaren than before. That could by TD related fall out. Some here chose to hyperfocus on Mclaren and Red Bull, but the TD casualties lie elsewhere imo. Potentially with the reds, and most definitely with the silvers.

[AR3-GP]

As such, the Monegasque suggested that the changes simply meant that the teams relied less on the front wings to induce the more stable balance, and moved that onus elsewhere on the car.

"Yes [it's noticeable], especially in the high speed. It's a little bit trickier to drive but it's not something that I dislike," Leclerc said.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/lewi ... /10728444/


And Leclerc struggled with the tricky balance in the race in Spain. Hamilton ended up nowhere managing to even come under threat from the Mercedes due to his more limited ability to handle a tricky balance.

[Sergej]

so much time, energy, money, forum pages, articles, tweets, God knows how many burnt trees to talk about this TD

and what was the effect ? an absolute fart in the universe

I don't think that's true.

Mercedes has been much further away on Sundays since they started running their TD compliant package in Imola. Their qualifying performances in Imola and Spain were flattered by tows, but the Sunday performance has been laid bare for all to see. When Toto wolf was asked about the last 3 race weekend, he only responded "Suffering". They are "nowhere". The gap between Mercedes and Mclaren/Red Bull is even bigger now. Verstappen made an extra pitstop, and still had a full pitstop advantage over Mercedes before the safety car. This is much bigger than anything we saw before Imola where they started running the TD compliant package.

Ferrari also suddenly had no pace in the race which is very uncharacteristic for them. According to the team thread, their drivers reported balance issues. This can be a symptom of the flexi-wing crack down. The balance window at the different speeds becomes more limited.

To my eye, Mclaren carried their usual hot weather rear axle management advantage over the competition in Spain, but Ferrari and especially Mercedes seem even further away from Red Bull and Mclaren than before. That could by TD related fall out. Some here chose to hyperfocus on Mclaren and Red Bull, but the TD casualties lie elsewhere imo. Potentially with the reds, and most definitely with the silvers.

Yeah maybe but who cares about Mercedes and Ferrari ? Let's not pretend that all the talk about this TD wasn't aimed at McLaren and how they would have been slowed down, well so far they didn't give an absolute --- about it.

[AR3-GP]

Hamilton on the Mercedes flexi-wing update of 2024:

"The flexi-wings, it was a positive when it came about, some teams were quick to adapt it, some teams were very slow to adapt it. It's been a positive.

"I remember when I was at Mercedes and we got it last year around this time and it was a positive for us. Some people had it earlier, some people had it later. It made this generation of car much nicer to drive - so it's going in the wrong direction, that's for sure.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/poor ... -hamilton/


This reveals how important the flexiwing tricks were for the Mercedes package and why they have now lost so much performance since Imola where the TD wing was introduced.

Sure, people may have been "Wrong" about Mclaren, but Red Bull was not wrong to think a car could be impacted by it. We are seeing the evidence of that now.