FIA issued technical directives before Imola GP, but did they have an effect?

In the week leading up to the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, the FIA clarified some aspects of the technical regulations through technical directives (TD) – which is a common procedure in itself. 

Autosport has learned that these were not actual changes to the regulations, but clarifications of what the rules specified and their intended purposes.

The first clarification involves materials used around the skid blocks and their mounting. This is an important aspect with the current ground-effect cars, as teams want to lower the ride height as much as possible, but the floor cannot be excessively worn, as teams still need to pass the FIA’s technical inspection, which is measured at the skid blocks areas.

The second clarification is related to devices and ways for keeping the tyres as cool as possible, where the FIA in response to questions from another team has clarified which methods are not allowed.

Did it have an effect?

Regarding the latter, Red Bull has drawn attention to McLaren in recent weeks. Max Verstappen told Dutch media during the Miami Grand Prix: “If you look at what McLaren is doing with the rear tyres, then we’re all doing something wrong.”

When McLaren missed out on victory at Imola, Christian Horner commented during his post-race media session: “We were sort of more surprised about McLaren’s lack of performance.”

Technical director Pierre Wache told media including Autosport that Red Bull’s upgrade step wasn’t as significant as it seemed, and that McLaren wasn’t as strong as he anticipated.

That said, McLaren immediately made clear that nothing had changed for them. Team principal Andrea Stella already said during Friday’s press conference that rivals are focussing on the wrong things: “I hope that in the future there will be more of these kinds of sagas because it means that our rivals keep focussing on the wrong things, and this is just good news for us. It’s helping our quest.”

The team claims that nothing has changed around the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, and other voices in the paddock share this view. Oscar Piastri’s MCL39 was checked by the FIA after the Miami Grand Prix and found to be in order, which was confirmed with an FIA document on Thursday in Imola.

Is Red Bull’s progress track-specific? Barcelona an interesting test

Verstappen was just as cautious about drawing far-reaching conclusions after the race that he won. The Dutchman believes that Red Bull’s strength in Imola was to a large extent related to the track layout.

“I think it’s very track specific,” the world champion said. “I mean, every time that we have been really competitive, it’s been high-speed tracks, high-speed corners.

“Of course, we brought upgrades. I think they worked, but Monaco is very different. It’s not been our strongest track with the car that we have, so let’s see how we are going to perform there.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

It fits the pattern of the season so far, as Verstappen has also been competitive at Suzuka and Jeddah – two track with many high-speed corners.

Red Bull faced more problems on tracks with slow-speed corners, as seen clearly in Bahrain and Miami.

Monaco is atypical and not representative of what’s to come, but the Spanish Grand Prix will be an interesting test – especially as the FIA will clamp down on flexi wings even further, the front wings in particular.