As the Formula 1 teams took to the track in Bahrain for pre-season testing, all eyes were on the new cars for the 2025 season. Over the course of the three-day test at the Sakhir Circuit, questions began to arise regarding the rear wings of some teams, with concerns that they were exhibiting unusual behavior – a issue that had also surfaced the previous year. According to statements made by Red Bull’s technical director, Pierre Wache, to the media outlet ‘The Race’, some teams are still utilizing the “mini-DRS” trick on their cars for the new season. “It’s still going on,” he explains. “I think Ferrari and McLaren are still doing the mini-DRS,” he confesses, referencing the possible teams that are maintaining this modification on their rear wings.
Although this claim can be questioned, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) has detected and considers that if there is something irregular in this situation, and as such, they have decided to investigate the behavior of the rear wing of all teams in detail starting from the beginning of the season at the Australian Grand Prix. The FIA’s primary goal is to ensure that all teams are adhering to the regulations and to maintain a level playing field.
New Measures from the FIA
As confirmed by the same media outlet, Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s single-seater director, has requested that teams provide casings for FIA cameras. The main objective of this request is to enable more effective control over the aerodynamic behavior of the rear wings of the cars in real-time during the first race of the season. The FIA’s cameras will capture high-definition images of the rear wings at high speed, and through the tracking of reference marks placed on specific points of the car, the FIA will be able to gain a better perspective on what occurs when the single-seaters are on the track.
Background on the “Mini-DRS”
During the previous season, a similar situation occurred at the Belgian Grand Prix, where the FIA began monitoring the behavior of the front wings of the teams. The Federation’s primary objective was to completely control these modifications that teams make, as they do not adhere to the category’s regulations. The “mini-DRS” system has been a point of contention, with teams seeking to exploit any advantage they can find within the rules. The system allows for a slight adjustment in the rear wing, potentially providing a boost in speed on straights.
As the season prepares to kick off, the FIA is taking a closer look at the technical regulations, particularly regarding the rear wings. According to the regulations, “except in the case of DRS failure or transition from one position to another, the DRS bodywork can only have two positions, so the position of the DRS bodywork must be the same before and after each deployment state. The transition time between the two positions must be less than 400 ms. The distance between the two RV-RW-PROFILES and RV-RW-TIP interior of Y=525, must not vary more than 2 mm when two loads of [0,0, -750]N each are applied simultaneously to the most advanced section of the rear wing profile only.” This level of detail underscores the complexity of the regulations and the cat-and-mouse game between the teams and the FIA as they seek to gain any advantage possible.