The history of Mercedes mirrors has come to an end or, at least, for the FIA, which has confirmed that they are legal according to current Formula 1 regulations for the 2022 season.
After a long debate by the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), the International Federation’s technical stewards confirmed the decision that had already been made before the tests at Sakhir, when Mercedes showed the CAD the aerodynamic evolution of the W13.
Engineers, led by Mike Elliott and James Allison , had good reason to believe the rearview mirror standard was poorly drafted, allowing teams to interpret it more loosely than legislators intended.
Mattia Binotto, boss of Ferrari, was very clear about this during a meeting with the press.
“The FIA has always made it clear that the support of the mirrors must only have a structural function and, if it has an aerodynamic influence, it must only be ‘incidental’. If this has been the principle that the FIA has insisted on in the past, I think it should be the same today and in the future, there is no reason to change your mind today”.
“On the issue of mirror support, the FIA has sent technical directives to teams in the past, underlining the underlying concept well. I think that certain solutions that you see on these cars are not of incidental influence, but have a clear aerodynamic purpose, so I think they are contrary to what the FIA has indicated in the past.
The head of the sports part of the team spoke in the plural, without pointing only to Mercedes. It seems clear that they think that the idea of respecting the spirit of the regulations could also affect other teams that, however, have defended themselves by claiming that the proposed solutions all fall within the space that the FIA has granted to the teams to develop the supports.
However, it is surprising that some fins that do not come into contact with the mirror and that have a remarkable aerodynamic function, have been declared as part of the rear view mirror support.
