F1: FIA looking to change rules to slow Red Bull (Update)

It would be a controversial move for the sport to change a rule to hurt one team, as it may be interpreted as a way to soften Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s dominance, at least over a lap.

“Max isn’t hurting anything,” Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur told Italy’s Autosprint. “He’s just doing a fantastic job – better than the others – with his team.

“We can’t complain about his dominance.”

Mercedes’ chief technical officer Mike Elliott, however, says it’s “unbelievable how much time Red Bull wins” every time the DRS flap is triggered.

Red Bull’s technical chief Pierre Wache denies anything “magic” is going on.

“It doesn’t open more than other teams or anything like that,” he told L’Equipe. “It just goes back quite simply to the concept of our car.

“When our wing is closed, we don’t have too much drag, and when the driver opens it up, he gains much more speed. Our strength is purely aerodynamic,” Wache insists.

Rumor has it that F1 is reportedly considering banning DRS in qualifying, so it can only be used during the race to slow Red Bull.

If the less competent cannot out-engineer Red Bull, then change the rules to slow Red Bull down.

If put into place, this change would most severely impact the team with the most effective DRS, which as of now is Red Bull with DRS a maximum top speed increase of 12.6 mph.

Top Speeds at Spa

Mercedes engineer Mike Elliott: “Unbelievable time gain by Red Bull with their rear wings opened in Spa”

“If we superimpose the speed curves, we can hardly believe it ourselves”

At the end of the Kemmel straight, the Red Bull drivers top speed reached at 211.8 while Lewis Hamilton only passed at 203.5 mph.

Of course, this can also be explained by the fact the Mercedes cars were running with slightly more downforce and hence drag.

Red Bull’s aero boss Pierre Wache has stressed that the suspension (and DRS) needs to be in line with the aero concept to be effective.

“The suspension, much like their clever DRS, alone doesn’t guarantee performance — it works effectively when integrated into the overall aerodynamics concept of the car.

“The RB19’s performance doesn’t just come from one clever invention, but from the car as a whole.”