Following last weekend’s late drama regarding Red Bull’s engine mapping the FIA is expected to issue a directive clarifying the contentious Article 5.5.3 of the sport’s technical regulations.
German GP stewards followed the request of the FIA’s technical delegate, Jo Bauer, who suspected Red Bull’s torque curves were in contravention of the rules, but found that as the rules were written no action could be taken.
The FIA’s Techical Working Group met yesterday, ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix. It’s expected that will result in a rewriting of the relevant regulation, forcing Red Bull to change their mapping.
This will please McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh and Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali, both critics of the stewards’ decision at Hockenheim.
“If you are allowed to do that, everyone will be spending a lot of money to run that kind of map and as quickly as you can. Clearly, the FIA is frustrated by it, so better to stop doing it,” Whitmarsh said.
While Doemenicali added, “We are relying on the regulator, the FIA, to make sure that it is a fair fight.”
It’s the second time this year the FIA has retrospectively forced Red Bull’s hand after they banned the ‘tyre squirt’ holes used in the floor of the RB8 at Bahrain, Spain and Monaco.
[Source: grandprix.com | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]