Team bosses met with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem on Friday before the Hungarian GP. Ferrari and Red Bull are trying to find a compromise on the new "floor rules," while Mercedes is advocating the rule change.
Team bosses met with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem on Friday before the Hungarian GP. Ferrari and Red Bull are trying to find a compromise on the new "floor rules," while Mercedes is advocating a rule change.
On August 2, a decision will be made on the new rules regarding the floors, reports the German magazine Auto, Motor und Sport. The FIA wants to make a rule change mandatory because it fears that the increased aerodynamic force will cause even more problems in 2023. Among other things, the edge of the floorpan must be raised by 25 millimeters.
Ferrari says it can prove that there is no safety problem and leaves open the possibility of legal action if the FIA tries to approve the rules. Red Bull is also against the rule change.
According to the team, they would have to rebuild half of the car, so Red Bull thinks the rule change comes too late. The smaller teams are also concerned and warn the FIA about the high costs with the new rules.
Mercedes is convinced that the accidents of Mick Schumacher and Daniel Ricciardo in Monaco were a result of the problem. The team is therefore in favor of the new rules. Charles Leclerc's accident in France last weekend can also be attributed to the problem, according to Mercedes. Ferrari and Red Bull deny this.
The two title rivals this year say that the new rules favor Mercedes' concept. Mercedes contradicts this by saying that Red Bull and Ferrari are causing confusion because they are investing a lot of money in the title fight in 2022, so they can't afford an extra program in the wind tunnel for 2023.
Christian Horner brought Adrian Newey into the meeting to show Sulayem an engineer's perspective. Newey showed him the consequences of the measures. Mattia Binotto also points out the engineers' view.
"In a meeting of the technical engineers, the majority was in favor of our ten millimeter compromise proposal," the team boss told AMuS. Horner adds, "In the end, we will reach a compromise. The only question is what it will be."