Car
The two major technical Formula 1 changes that teams had to make in Spain
by Samarth Kanal
8min read
Flexi-wings dominated the Formula 1 technical landscape in Barcelona as teams were forced to make changes for the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix - but there was another curious F1 rule change to deal with…
Sign up for a weekly newsletter and we'll make sure you're fully up-to-date in the world of race technology
Teams were long aware that they would have to deal with a new FIA technical directive in Spain, concerning the flexibility of front and rear wings. Front wings flex under the load generated by downforce, which makes them reduce drag at high speed, or change the way the car behaves.
Furthermore, teams also had to test new stainless-steel skid blocks - a crucial piece of hardware under their cars that is used to limit ride height - in Spain. The standard skid blocks are made out of titanium, but the FIA is testing out steel as a material to see if it produces less sparks and thus reduces the risk of grass fires - which caused delays during the 2025 Japanese GP at Suzuka.
Marshals put out a grass fire at the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix
What is the new flexi-wing load test?
Ahead of the 2025 season, the governing body announced it would introduce new “or more challenging” tests to measure load deflection from this race, the 2025 Spanish GP.
“When championship battles become intense, teams tend to focus on each other’s cars a lot, and naturally they raise concerns and over the latter half of the season we came to the conclusion that we needed to toughen a bit more the tests for 2025,” explained FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis.
The 2025 regulations addressed rear wing deformation, specifying that if 75 kilogrammes of vertical load was applied to either extremity of the rear wing mainplane, the gap between the mainplane and the main flap of the wing should not open up by more than two millimetres.
This was dubbed the ‘Mini-DRS’ effect as, if that gap opened up too much, it could have reduced drag akin to the Drag Reduction System. Moveable aerodynamic devices are not allowed in F1 in 2025, apart from DRS.
An illustration showing the small opening caused by the flexible rear wing on the 2024 McLaren F1 car
The FIA introduced tougher load tests for rear wings after the season-opening Australian GP and then reduced the gap tolerance to 0.5mm by the 2025 Japanese GP.
With that the FIA decided rear wings were addressed sufficiently. As for front wing flexing, it is debuting stricter regulations from Spain.
The rules formerly stated that 100kg of load applied symmetrically to both sides of the car could only lead to a maximum of 15mm of vertical deflection on the front wing. A load applied to one side of the car could only lead to a maximum of 20mm of deflection.
From the 2025 Spanish GP, those tolerances were reduced to 10m and 15mm, respectively.
Furthermore, the trailing edge of the front wing flap can now only deflect to 3mm under a 6kg load, down from 5mm under a 6kg load.
The FIA says the “increase in rigidity is significant” and introduced stricter tests to prepare for 2026, when new technical regulations will come into play. It does not want component flexibility to be a continuing issue next season - although Tombazis said the FIA would continue to be “vigilant” in this area.
The front wing directive spawned new front wings with very subtle visible changes in Spain.
An illustration showing rear wing deflection tests carried out by the FIA, courtesy of Giorgio Piola Design
What changes did the teams make to their front wings?
Red Bull’s new front wing included changes to the first and second elements of the front wing with new flap elements, tips, and outboard tip adjusters.
McLaren introduced an extra support between the top two wing elements earlier in the season, at Imola, to prepare for this change, while Ferrari revised the endplate and outboard tip rolls of its wing to comply with the technical regulation and enhance aerodynamic load across the wing.
Alpine debuted its new wing in FP1 at Imola, like McLaren. Aston Martin, Haas, Racing Bulls, and Williams also introduced front wing changes to adjust to the stricter FIA tests.
Sauber introduced more parts in Spain with sporting director Inaki Rueda saying that the front wing was only “10 percent” of its upgrade package for Barcelona. New sidepods and floor changes to give “uniform downforce” to the car across a range of situations.
Meanwhile Alpine engineer Alan Permane said the team took the opportunity to develop a new front wing for Spain anyway, as well as a nose with a new height to suit the new wing.
Permane added that weight would increase due to the more structurally-sound wing - a challenge every team had to deal with.
An illustration showing front wing deflection tests carried out by the FIA, courtesy of Giorgio Piola Design
Car, Innovation
What is the plank assembly and skid block and why are they so important in F1 and F2?
The new stainless-steel skid block
To reduce the possibility of grass fires that caused stoppages in the 2025 Japanese GP weekend, the FIA has moved to test stainless-steel skid blocks instead of titanium skid blocks - potentially reducing the amount of sparks produced.
The new steel skid blocks do however weigh more - and wear more.
Rueda said: “When you fit a steel block, it wears down like butter compared to titanium. So you do have to run a different set-up.”
Sparks coming off the titanium skid block on the bottom of the Sauber F1 car
Komatsu, meanwhile, added that the problem is “something that the circuits should really fix [instead]”.
He reasoned: “What happened in Suzuka [in 2025] and what happened in Shanghai [last year] could have been dealt with better. I wasn't of the opinion that we should be fixing it by the car specification, really.”
The steel skid block was tested in one of two cars during practice in Spain with a view to use it at select races over 2025 - such as the British GP and Hungarian GP - to diminish the risk of grass fires.
The FIA has now changed the plan with titanium skid blocks to remain for the rest of the season. However, teams are requested to have stainless-steel skid blocks ready at all events, “as they may become mandatory if similar grass fire incidents occur as seen in Suzuka early [in 2025]”.
It added: “Additional testing of stainless steel skid blocks will be conducted at selected events throughout the season to support further evaluation."
