McLaren “strongly disagree” with timing of clampdown on F1 ‘bendy wings’

It comes after Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton claimed Red Bull used what he called a “bendy” wing at the Spanish Grand Prix to increase straight-line speed. Red Bull responded by insisting its car complies with the regulations.

F1’s governing body has announced that a technical directive will come into place to prevent teams from gaining an unfair advantage by using aeroelasticity, but it will not be implemented until after next month’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

And Seidl believes the FIA should be reacting quicker to address the issue.

"When you see all the pictures from Barcelona, it’s pretty clear what is happening there,” Seidl said. “Therefore, we welcome the reaction from the FIA with the technical directive and we are happy with the basic content.

“Where we strongly disagree is the timing of the implementation, because from our point of view there is no reason, after not just one team, had already the advantage of doing things which in our point of view are clearly against the regulations.

“They had that advantage already for several races, which is something we are obviously not happy with. But now, allowing them to have a further advantage for some more races, it’s clearly something we strongly disagree with and are in conversation with the FIA [about].”

With teams enabled to enjoy further benefits at the next round of the season in Baku, Seidl said the delay puts “teams that comply with the regulations at a big disadvantage”.

“I’m not really sure if we speak about interpretation here,” he added. “The tests that are mentioned in the regulations at the moment, they are in place to additionally support the FIA in order to check in a straightforward way if the cars are complying with the regulations. But it doesn’t mean that only these tests are the only criteria if these cars are legal or not.

“With the footage that is available from Barcelona, I think it’s pretty clear what’s going on there and we simply hope that the FIA shows a very strong hand now on this because, from our point of view, it’s simply not acceptable.”

Seidl stressed he is against the idea of protesting teams suspected of being in breach of the regulations and refused to reveal specific names.

“I have no interest to put these names on the table at the moment,” Seidl said. “It’s down to the FIA to make sure that we have fair competition between teams and enforce the regulations.

“But some of you mentioned some names, so must have watched the video analysis as well… Just look at the rear wing, the main flaps and what the endplates are doing. There’s some good videos on YouTube, including full analysis - it’s quite interesting.

“We don’t have data or pictures of all cars so I can’t say how many teams exactly,” he added. “I think it is clear with having flexible wings in place that you have a big advantage, especially on tracks like Baku.

“In the end, you can run a lot of downforce and still have the top speed, which is why this topic keeps coming back every now and then. There are regulations in place and everyone has to comply with the regulations. Simple as that.”