Mercedes’ ‘spaceship’ mirrors to face scrutiny at F1 rules meeting

As part of a radical sidepods overhaul that Mercedes rolled out on its W13 at last week’s Bahrain test, the team also revealed a new mirror mounting arrangement on the Side Impact Protection system that caught the attention of its main rivals. 

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto described the mirrors as looking like “spaceships” and called for an FIA clampdown over the design rules, citing an agreement that mirrors are not supposed to be created to achieve aerodynamic benefits. 

“It’s something for the future that needs to be addressed,” said Binotto. “Already in the past, we said the mirrors should have no aero purpose.

“They should be there just to look behind and I think the way that they [Mercedes] design the cars has a significant aero purpose in the mirrors.”

A meeting of F1’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) is expected to take place today (Tuesday), in which Mercedes’ innovative design is likely to be challenged. 

“You certainly don't want to get in to a mirror war,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

"So much time in these technical meetings over the last 10 years or so has been talking about the function of the mirrors and whether they become wings or not, and it is probably not the intention.

"I'm sure in the right forum, in the TAC meeting they have, that will probably be addressed and discussed there.”

The FIA’s head of single-seater matters Nikolas Tombazis indicated there is nothing to suggest that Mercedes’ design contravenes the technical rules. 

It is likely that clarification over mirror designs will be reached, with the rules possibly reworded for the 2023 season to avoid discrepancies in future. 

If the TAC finds that the rules need to be tightened or changed, the matter will move on to the F1 Commotion for a vote. 

“We always assess rules for following years, and we assess whether things are clear, whether the new rules sometimes contain things that may not have been phrased as well as intended and so on,” Tombazis said. 

"I think by and large, the level of discrepancy is quite low from what is intended, but there are a few little areas, and we discussed that with the teams. We'll have another TAC meeting on Tuesday I believe to discuss these matters."