After the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, several teams stayed at the Imola circuit to test the tires they will use during the 2023 season, but alarm bells soon went off. McLaren and Red Bull were the ones to question whether Ferrari was complying with the approved rules for tire development sessions.
For the stewards of Nikolas Tombazis everything was in order but, from that moment, Ferrari ended up in the crosshairs of McLaren and Red Bull for the flat bottoms they used in those days of testing.
Both Zak Brown and Christian Horner , bosses of McLaren and Red Bull respectively, have raised questions about Ferrari’s behavior and the actions of the International Federation.
The American manager, to corroborate his thesis, spoke again of the secret agreement that the Scuderia signed, paying a large fine, to end the engine controversy at the end of 2019, since the irregularity in the system had not been demonstrated. of power
Brown seems to have forgotten that a lot has changed at the FIA, as we have gone from the chairmanship of Jean Todt to that of Mohammed Ben Sulayem , two managers showing two very different ways of doing things.
The flat bottom that set off the alarms at McLaren and Red Bull
This “case” arose due to these images by Davide Cavazza , who photographed the F1-75 during the second day of testing at Imola, shared with Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri.
Detail of the floor of the F1-75, with Leclerc at the wheel
In the morning, Charles Leclerc had lapped with a single-seater equipped with the usual flat bottom since the start of the season. Doubts arose in the afternoon, since Carlos Sainz used a different version, which immediately caught everyone’s attention, being very different.
The flat bottom that Sainz used, you can see the skate that caused the controversy
Following the publication of these images by Motorsport.com, the British teams wasted no time in looking for where and when the Scuderia had used this specification. From Maranello, on the other hand, only silence could be heard.
These test sessions are attended by an FIA stewards, whose job it is to check that the cars comply with the regulations and that the teams do not infringe them. In this case, the commissioner did not protest anything that happened in the boxes of the Enzo and Dino Ferrari track.
“In tire testing you have to use a fixed specification car, and if you have to replace a part, it has to be older than what was previously used,” explained Horner . “The common feeling is that certainly Ferrari used a different flat-bottom specification in the afternoon than in the morning, and that it seemed to have some new parts.
“The task of checking these things falls to the Federation. We don’t want tire tests to become an opportunity to test aerodynamic developments or improve performance.”
The big question raised by Red Bull centers on the skid that appeared under the floor of the F1-75, and if it had been “added” to a specification already used on the track by the Maranello engineers.
The pieces of contention were tested in a session in FP1 of the Australian GP
This matter could risk becoming a mystery novel, but the solution is actually quite simple. The controversial flat bottom was fitted for a short run in FP1 of the Australian GP. Our technical expert, Giorgio Piola, was able to photograph the rear of the Ferrari, which showed a narrower and less resistant part of the diffuser.
The diffuser of the F1-75 that was only tested in one session during FP1 of the Australian GP
Piola was the only one to capture this new piece, but only thanks to a side view, since the side also featured an unpublished design border. The most curious thing about this whole story is that the photographers of the teams had not detected the novelties of the Ferrari, and the one who published the drawings of this narrow diffuser copied the work of our expert incorrectly.
The unanswered question is simple: was this “skid” under the bottom of the F1-75 in Australia or was it just added at Imola? Contrasting evidence has not been shown, but the FIA did not find any anomalies in its inspection. Thanks to that the fantasies are fed, but the case is closed.
