Frédéric Vasseur, director of Scuderia Ferrari, expressed his annoyance at the new technical directive ordered by the FIA, the day before the Las Vegas Grand Prix race weekend.
Ahead of the race weekend, the FIA has published a new technical directive clarifying how blocks (spark-producing pads) can be attached to the floor of single-seaters. The aim of this new directive is to prevent teams from exploiting a possible gray area in the regulations.
This new directive was due to arrive at the start of the 2025 season, but it appears that Red Bull has lobbied F1's governing body for this rule to appear sooner. Let's not forget that Red Bull, once the leader of the constructors' world championship, was overtaken by McLaren and Ferrari. With three races remaining in the season, everything is in order to try to win the title.
Ferrari boss Frédéric Vasseur confirmed his team had to modify the floor of his car, but he stressed that the FIA had deemed his board completely legal.
“Yes, we had to change something, but the FIA confirmed to us that the board was legal ”, declared the Frenchman. “I think we did well not to fight, because I want to stay focused on the championship and not on this kind of discussion. But the approach was strange.”
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Other teams such as Mercedes and Alpine have also confirmed that they have changed the configuration of their cars in response to the new technical directive.
New Alpine boss Oliver Oakes admitted his team had “had to make a little change”while for his part, Toto Wolff declared that Mercedes “had to change the way we manage the floor too”.
Finally, those behind the early appearance of this new directive, Red Bull, were also affected by the decision. We don't know if there is a link, but it is clear that the Red Bulls are in great difficulty at the start of the race weekend, finishing in 17th and 19th positions in FP2.
