FIA adds stickers to all F1 cars to check wing flexing in Baku

With new flexi-wing tests not set to be introduced until the French Grand Prix later this month, there is a chance that Mercedes could lodge a protest against its chief rival Red Bull.

Both Mercedes and McLaren are unhappy with the timing of the FIA’s new stricter load tests, believing the technical directive should have been introduced earlier having been informed of the decision ahead of the last round in Monaco.

To help provide a reference point for the FIA to monitor how much the wings are moving, 12 dotted stickers have been placed on the rear wings of all the cars at this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The FIA is set to use video footage to help with the policing of Article 3.8 - which governs car parts with aerodynamic influence - prior to the enhanced load tests coming into force at Paul Ricard.

"It's good to see that these stickers have been introduced for this weekend, which gives the FIA a better possibility to measure what's going on,” said McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl.

"To my understanding, these dots simply help to measure what's happening because when we look at the videos from Barcelona, it's difficult to get detailed numbers in terms of what is flexing and how exactly.”

Seidl refused to confirm whether McLaren would protest teams who decide to use flexi-wings in Baku, but indicated that any protest would be unlikely to happen until after qualifying or the race.

“I don’t want to go into discussion of a protest at the moment,” Seidl added.

“In general, it doesn’t make sense to do anything before the event, because you can change your event on Saturday morning.

“There’s no point in doing anything on a Friday night.”