Wolff and Symonds about the Mercedes front wing

Formula 1 technical director Pat Symonds considers the front wing of the new Mercedes car to be “questionable”, and team boss Toto Wolff is confident in its legality…

Toto Wolff: “Everything that is mounted on the car goes through an approval procedure with the FIA ​​throughout the entire process. No other way. It doesn’t happen that you have an idea, implement it at your own risk and then wait to see whether it gets approved or not. This is a long-term dialogue that takes place in winter, so I have no doubt that our decision is in accordance with the regulations.”

Pat Symonds: “Mercedes showed a very interesting solution: their interpretation of the rules, which in my opinion does not match their spirit.

Article 3 of the technical regulations clearly states that the purpose of the rules is to ensure tight racing on the track, and in this case we are talking about a device that eliminates the strong eddy current in the area of ​​the front wheels. This is not contrary to the regulations, but is not consistent with the spirit of the rules.

We have to see how strong the effect will be. The FIA ​​now has a good aerodynamics group that used to work with me. They’ll say, “Yeah, there’s really nothing wrong with that” or “Wait, this is the start of a trend we don’t want to see.” We will act depending on the situation. It is more about the interests of the sport than about what is good for Mercedes or Red Bull.”