Do Ferrari and Red Bull exceed the rules around floor plate wear?

As usual in Formula 1, the eyes are on the fastest teams. Red Bull Racing and Ferrari may have been a little too free in developing the floors of the RB18 and F1-75. The floor plates of these teams, according to Auto Motor und Sport, seem to be better protected than at other teams.

With the 2022 cars, the teams have the most freedom in developing the floors. The wings are almost completely standardised for the 2022 cars. The teams can therefore make the biggest gains in terms of downforce with the floor. It is estimated that around forty percent of the total downforce of the cars is generated by the floor. According to AMuS, Red Bull Racing and Ferrari are in the crosshairs of the FIA. With Technical Directive 39 (TD039) the FIA has made a change to the technical regulations, allowing more freedom in the development of the floor to prevent porpoising and 'bottoming'. This brings up some remarkable issues with the two strongest teams.

Ferrari and Red Bull have trick that prevents wear and tear

TD039 has now been postponed until the Belgian Grand Prix. Another point that is included in the relaxation of the rules is the wear of the base plate of the floor. The FIA wants to get more insight into this because there are rumours that certain teams are exceeding the rules there. With a smart construction, a few tenths of a second per lap could be gained. The suspected teams Red Bull and Ferrari in their turn suspect Mercedes of having started the rumours. Team boss Toto Wolff reacted with shock.

The board in question is the lowest point of the car and therefore often hits the ground during 'bottoming' (that is when the car hits the tarmac hard, for example during porpoising). The plate is allowed to be ten millimetres thick with a deviation of two millimetres. In addition, the FIA allows a maximum of one millimetre of wear, because more wear means a car is lower and gains an advantage. Now it seems that Ferrari and Red Bull have devised a way, illegal or not, to counteract that wear and still set their cars low. It is expected that the teams have placed the so-called skid blocks in such a way that they absorb most of the blows at the moment the car touches the asphalt. This allows the cars to run low and absorb a lot of impacts without the floor plate wearing out too much.

The FIA does not currently check the mounting blocks, but it does check certain points of the floorboard to ensure that it is not more than one millimetre worn. AMuS feels that this trick might not be limited to just Red Bull and Ferrari, but that other teams may also be doing this. It seems certain that the FIA will investigate this and come up with a verdict soon.