Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has welcomed the FIA’s decision to tighten its controls on flexible wings in Formula 1 for the 2025 season.
However, he’s also raised questions about the FIA’s chosen timeline for implementing the stricter front wing tests.
Last season, the issue of flexi-wings became a hot topic in the F1 paddock, particularly when McLaren was forced to modify its rear wing after rivals Red Bull and Ferrari raised concerns over its legality.
While initially lenient on the topic, the FIA has introduced tougher load tests to police both front and rear wings.
However, while the revised rear wing checks will come into effect immediately at next month’s the Australian Grand Prix, the stricter front wing regulations will only be enforced from the Spanish Grand Prix in June.
Horner: ‘Why Race Nine?’
Horner, who has long called for greater clarity on the matter, expressed his approval of the FIA’s intervention but remained puzzled by the staggered timeline.
“I think it’s good that they’ve addressed it. Obviously, there’s been a change and a tidy-up to the rear wing,” said the Red Bull chief during F1’s season launch event at London’s O2 Arena.
“The front wing gets changed at race nine. Why nine? I don’t know, but it is what it is. It’s the same for everyone.
“It just means that you’ve got a pre-race nine and a post-race nine set of issues to deal with, which inevitably will drive cost.”
With teams already facing a balancing act between optimizing their 2025 packages and shifting focus to the major 2026 regulation changes, the delay in implementing front wing tests could add another layer of complexity to managing resources.
Vasseur: ‘Clarity is the Most Important Thing’
Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur, however, has taken a more pragmatic approach to the FIA’s control policies, emphasizing that the key priority is having a clear roadmap from the outset.
“For me, it’s not an issue,” Vasseur stated. “I think it’s good to have clarity. The most important for me is to know that we have to change something on the front wing by Barcelona, for example.
Read also: Horner counters Newey’s ‘inexperience’ call regarding RB20 issues
“You can discuss the timing because it’s the week after Monaco, and we need to come to Monaco with a full package of front wing. But at the end of the day, it’s good for us, it’s good for the development and [planning] to know when we have to bring something.
“The worst-case scenario would be to start the season like we are today and in two races to come with a TD [technical directive] to change something because it’s much more difficult to plan and in this case, it would have been a mess.
“But honestly, we all know the situation. We were all planning to bring an upgrade on the front wing during the season and like this, we know that we’ll have to do it back in Barcelona.”
With teams now bracing for a two-phase approach to the FIA’s clampdown, the challenge will be in managing costs and development priorities while staying competitive in an already tightly packed field.
Whether the delay in front wing tests will create an early-season advantage for some teams remains to be seen, but for now, the focus remains on ensuring compliance while pushing the limits of performance.
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