As part of the discussions between the FIA and the teams about a planned safety crackdown on over-kicking, one area of focus is the stiffness of the floors and floorboards of the cars.
As part of discussions between the FIA and the teams about a planned safety crackdown on over-kicking, one area of focus is the stiffness of car floors and floorboards.
The site understands that during talks at a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting the week after the Canadian GP, suspicions arose of some teams pushing the limits of the rules that limit floor and board deflection.
The current regulations stipulate a maximum deflection of 2 mm in the two middle board holes and no more than 2 mm in the rear-most hole to ensure that the floorboard is rigid enough.
However, there have been claims that some teams have been able to skillfully deflect their floors by up to 6 mm in total, which would allow them to run at a certain rake and much closer to the ground to increase performance without the risk of suffering the damaging effects of the kicks.
Sources suggest that several teams were surprised at what their competitors were doing, with Wolff confessing how surprised he was at the situation.
"Nobody thought about it until the FIA presented the issue at the last Technical Advisory Committee, which was a big surprise to all the teams," he explained.
"What is in the regulations and what the intention of the regulations is quite clear. I mean, there is no argument why this could deviate more than what is in the regulations, i.e. 2 millimeters. So, a surprise to say the least. In fact, it's shocking."
But the FIA is taking action and has already notified the teams. In the draft technical directive issued at the British GP by the FIA's technical director for single-seaters, Nikolas Tombazis, and which takes effect at the French GP, the FIA announced a tightening of the rules regarding the stiffness of the floor.
Tombazis made it clear that he was making the move to ensure that there was "a fair and equal relevance between all cars," which suggests that this was not being the case before.
He made it clear that the FIA believes that teams with 'excessive deformation' of the floorboard were being made "to achieve significantly lower car heights and therefore an indirect aerodynamic gain."
The 2mm tolerance will be strictly enforced and the stiffness around the floorpan hole must now be uniform for a peripheral distance of 15mm - with no more than 10% variation in either direction.
The FIA added: "Competitors will be required to demonstrate compliance with these provisions through detailed inspection of the DAC and physical installation, as well as finite element analysis."
Several teams welcomed the FIA's move, as they suggest that the regulator acted because it felt that some teams were going too far with what they are doing.
It is unclear which teams are potentially toying with flexible floorboards, although Red Bull and Ferrari were not at all pleased to leave that meeting after the Canadian GP.
Mercedes engineering director Andrew Shovlin calculated that the move could help move his team closer to the front. "When it came up, we realized that there are opportunities that we may not be taking advantage of or exploiting," he said.
"So it won't affect our car at all. It might affect our competitors and, by virtue of that, we'll get a little bit closer."
McLaren boss Andreas Seidl said, "There must be a reason why Nikolas has put some clarification on what he wants to see and what he expects."
"From our point of view, we are happy with this clarification that is in the technical directive, because in the end it should help us to be all on a level playing field."