F1 Today: FIA stops Mercedes and Red Bull trick, Aston Martin hit with brutal verdict

The FIA has moved to close what was effectively a backdoor method of gaining a marginal qualifying advantage, though the decision feels more cosmetic than consequential. Any performance gain was negligible, to the point that Mercedes had already abandoned the approach by the previous round in Japan.

It was the Scuderia Ferrari outfit that alerted the FIA to the workaround, which both Mercedes and Red Bull had been exploiting. By briefly bypassing the mandated power reduction, teams were able to maintain maximum output along the final straight approaching the timing line.

Crucially, the tactic itself wasn’t illegal. Instead, it stemmed from a grey area within the regulations. Teams could avoid reducing energy deployment if the MGU-K was disabled for technical reasons, but the rules failed to clearly define what constituted a genuine ‘emergency’.

Martin Brundle has offered a worrying verdict on the current struggles plaguing the Aston Martin F1 outfit.

The former driver-turned-F1 pundit highlighted the severity of the Silverstone-based outfit’s situation, stressing that both time and regulations could severely limit their ability to recover quickly.

Describing the state of affairs as a “nightmare”, Brundle pointed to Aston Martin’s lack of both pace and reliability, while noting how the relentless F1 calendar and cost cap era make it far harder for teams to recover from such a deep slump.

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