Flexiwing rule didn't impact quali, will it impact the race? Stella weighs in

13:15, 01 Jun

byNorberto Mujica

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, like everyone else, saw in how the crackdown on flexiwings had negligible impact on qualifying performance. But, will it have one in the race? The Italian answered this question to media like GPblog after qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Whilst everyone estimated - or hoped - the Technical Directive would alter the pecking order, this was not the case, as Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris clearly showed locking out the front row for the race in Spain.

However, is it possible that where the TD failed to shake-up the order in qualifying, it would do so for the race? "The reality is we will never know because we don't have a thermal comparison," said Stella.

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Will the TD impact race performance? This is what Stella says

Stella, a well-versed engineer himself, believes the TD018's impact affects the behaviour of an F1 car and tyre degrations, but, due to the negligible quantifiable effect it's had, he's sceptical as to whether it will be felt throughout the race.

"But if I put my engineer hat for a second on and I look at the numbers, at least the numbers for McLaren, I would say this falls almost in the noise of what has an impact on the behaviour of Formula One car and tyre degradation."

"So my answer is essentially I don't expect an impact in terms of how the race would unfold and how the car interacts with the tyres."