Questions have been raised about the design of the rear wing of Ferrari's F2006, even though it has been declared legal by the sport's governing body.
The first race of the season has led to the inevitable extra scrutiny from teams about the legality of designs elsewhere in the pitlane, and some of this focus has again shifted to the area of flexing wings.
Part of this attention on rear wings has been aimed at Ferrari, with rival teams claiming that the Italians' rear wing flexes and therefore breaks the regulations, which outlaw 'moveable aerodynamic devices'.
To check the legality of the wings, the FIA uses specific tests on the car while it is stationary. Loads are applied to the wing elements at specific areas and the wing cannot deflect above a certain amount. This is 5mm for the uppermost element of the rear wing and 2mm for the front-element.
The major bone of contention relates to the belief that the rear wings of some teams have been designed to only just pass the FIA tests and could flex elsewhere in areas that are not tested.
This would in theory make the rear wings fully compliant with the regulations as they are written, even if they are against them in spirit.
FIA technical delegates Charlie Whiting and Jo Bauer were seen inspecting the rear wing of the 248 F1 in the Ferrari garage on Saturday morning, and they subsequently gave the team the thumbs-up.
Despite the FIA insisting that there is no problem with the Ferrari rear wing, Renault's director of engineering Pat Symonds has made it clear that he is still far from happy with the situation.
When asked about his feelings on the Ferrari wing following the FIA's latest inspection, Symonds said: "I am not at all happy about it.
"It is very clear what you can or cannot do. There might be specific rules about specific parts, but there are also general rules and I know exactly what that wing does. And that is not what I would expect."
Should the issue escalate, then the FIA could still step in. F1's regulations allow the governing body to introduce further load/deflection tests on any part of the bodywork that is suspected of moving while the car is in motion.
-Autosport.com
Here we go again....
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FIA?
