{"id":30014,"date":"2025-02-04T12:49:42","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T17:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=30014"},"modified":"2025-02-04T12:49:42","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T17:49:42","slug":"f1-which-teams-could-capitalise-on-latest-fia-directive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/04\/f1-which-teams-could-capitalise-on-latest-fia-directive\/","title":{"rendered":"F1: Which teams could capitalise on latest FIA Directive?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In many ways, last year&#8217;s F1 campaign transformed after the Miami GP &#8211; when <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/02\/mclaren-join-ferrari-in-all-out-2025-development-approach\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">McLaren<\/a> introduced a game-changing upgrade package. The British team catapulted themselves to the very front &#8211; establishing themselves as genuine contenders against Red Bull.<\/p>\n<p>Twelve months later, the 2025 season could see a similar evolution after the Spanish GP.<\/p>\n<p>Due to the FIA Technical Directive being enforced in Barcelona, there could be a shift in the pecking order.<\/p>\n<h2>Implications for 2025 and 2026<\/h2>\n<p>Fundamentally, the FIA&#8217;s changes are significant in more ways than one.<\/p>\n<p>On a basic level, the new directive means stricter tests are in place for the flexi wing designs.<\/p>\n<p>The tail end of 2024 saw work on this area become increasingly prominent across the F1 grid.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, that begin the season with these flexi wings are called to make adjustments in the coming months.<\/p>\n<p>Considering that (only a few months ago) the assumption was changes would not be made to front wing scrutineering, the latest news from the FIA carries important implications for 2025.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"eJFRnFl7SwRv4hzYutGNxw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2189131315\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'eJFRnFl7SwRv4hzYutGNxw',sig:'KcmObWxToFT9NmiPv82Qn3kdbcoLuTFTCF8gMKayzzg=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2189131315',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It remains unclear to what extent performance will be impacted by changes that now need to be implemented.<\/p>\n<p>What is clear, however, is that resources will have to be re-allocated into addressing this problem.<\/p>\n<p>In the context of teams navigating a delicate balancing act between <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/01\/why-the-start-of-2025-is-critical-for-hamilton-and-leclerc\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">2025<\/a> and 2026, additional focus on this year could have a knock-on effect to next year.<\/p>\n<p>The budget cap only compounds this effect, since teams are already operating with a limited amounts of funds for their development.<\/p>\n<p>Expecting teams to lose a second per lap post-Spanish GP would be overstating the impact of this new directive.<\/p>\n<p>Still, last season seems evidence enough that only a few tenths could tip the balance of power in F1.<\/p>\n<h4>Winners and losers<\/h4>\n<p>Ultimately, it is not until the Spanish GP on June 1st that more concrete implications will emerge about the consequences of these stricter flexi wing tests.<\/p>\n<p>McLaren, for their part, were the first team to receive heavy scrutiny for pushing the limits on their wing flexibility.<\/p>\n<p>Because of this, they are understood to have a better understanding than most F1 teams on these components.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the consensus is that McLaren already have different solutions to generate the downforce and balance benefits that flexi wings are known to create.<\/p>\n<p>It seems likely that the Woking-based squad should be somewhat unaffected by these changes.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"22ay_PdwR2BiQghLaZA3sA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2188074798\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'22ay_PdwR2BiQghLaZA3sA',sig:'ykvtxdQP_OjRwHNU_OJkKuB9DyLWh6XJMr4x1cdaJDE=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2188074798',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Similar conclusions can be reached for <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/01\/toto-wolff-in-support-of-fia-crackdown-on-driver-conduct\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Mercedes,<\/a> who were also relatively early in this department.<\/p>\n<p>Both teams should have ways to mitigate the enforcement of the FIA&#8217;s new directive at the Spanish GP and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the front wing also has ramifications for how airflow interacts with the floor and rest of the car. This means that successfully navigating this change can prevent a lot of headaches.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Red Bull and Ferrari were in the relatively early stages of understanding how to exploit the flexi wing phenomenon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/04\/f1-news-williams-in-far-better-shape-heading-into-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Williams in far better shape heading into 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p>As a result, one interpretation is that these teams could be a few steps behind their rivals in having a contingency to counter this technical directive.<\/p>\n<p>This could put them on the backfoot in Barcelona &#8211; though it remains to be seen if <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/01\/why-the-start-of-2025-is-critical-for-hamilton-and-leclerc\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Maranello<\/a> and Woking have innovative solutions.<\/p>\n<p>The looming threat of porpoising returning as an accidental side-effect of this directive should not be overlooked either.<\/p>\n<p>With a major regulation change incoming, teams must also be prudent with how their resources and time are spent.<\/p>\n<p>All things considered, this saga adds a spanner in the works to the F1 2025 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In many ways, last year&#8217;s F1 campaign transformed after the Miami GP &#8211; when McLaren introduced a game-changing upgrade package. The British team catapulted themselves to the very front &#8211; establishing themselves as genuine contenders against Red Bull. Twelve months later, the 2025 season could see a similar evolution after the Spanish GP. Due to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":30015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,465,637],"class_list":["post-30014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-f1-news","tag-fia"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30014"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30029,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30014\/revisions\/30029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}