FIA likely to investigate Ferrari amid questions over legality of new F1 car

14 February 2023 , 20:34

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The vanes connecting the top two flaps on the front wing of the new Ferrari SF23 car are likely to be scrutinised by the FIA (Image: Scuderia Ferrari)

Ferrari fans will be excited after being shown the team's new Formula 1 car for the first time – but one aspect of the design is likely to attract scrutiny from the FIA.

The Scuderia unveiled its 2023 challenger on Tuesday, during an event at their Fiorano test track in northern Italy. Ferrari will hope the car, named the SF23, is as competitive as its predecessor and that it can mount a strong title challenge this year.

But there is one aspect of the design which will likely be looked into closely by the sport's lawmakers. Promotional photos of the new car released by the team show one part of the design which has already been addressed by the FIA in the recent past.

It was spotted by veteran F1 car designer Gary Anderson. Writing for The Race, the former Jordan and Stewart technical chief singled out the vanes on the front wing of the car as something to which the governing body may well take exception.

"Ferrari has been focusing on maximising outwash," he wrote, alongside a photo of the vanes. "This is something these regulations have strived to minimise so I would expect the FIA to be taking a close look at these vanes."

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He went on to point out that the FIA has already ruled on a similar innovation, when Mercedes tried it in Austin several months ago. Anderson added: "There is a question over the legality of the vanes in how they join the third and fourth wing flaps.

Ferrari showed off the SF23 on track on Tuesday morning (Scuderia Ferrari)

"Mercedes arrived at the United States Grand Prix last year with the solution but had to remove the brackets at the behest of the FIA. The geometry of the vanes must have been within what was allowed by the regulations otherwise Mercedes would not have tried it, so the officials' judgement would have been based on the vanes' intent and purpose.

"The regulation for the use of anything like this was rewritten for this year to limit the quantity, the overall size and the curvature of these components. I can only assume that what Ferrari has put on the car complies with the letter of these new regulations.

"You can see that the three outer ones are a little different relative to the inner two, so it looks like Ferrari is trying get over this regulation by saying they are being used for different purposes. Good luck with that."

Daniel Moxon