F1
FIA changes technical regulations to avoid return of 'mini-DRS' in 2025
© Florent Gooden / DPPI
The "mini-DRS" is definitely over. On the sidelines of the World Motor Sport Council, held on December 11 in Kigali (Kenya), the FIA made a modification to the 2025 technical regulations of the F1 which should prevent the return of this aerodynamic phenomenon on the rear wing of single-seaters.
An effect exploited by McLaren during the 2024 season, notably during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix won by Oscar piastri, and which had caused controversy among the other teams. Indeed, in the long straights of the Azeri circuit, The rear wing of the British mount had a tendency to bend and to lift slightly to the sides without the activation of the DRS, opening an air passage and therefore reducing aerodynamic drag… which had the direct consequence of significantly increasing the top speed.
Oscar Piastri had benefited from this folding fin to keep Charles Leclerc behind him and won his second Grand Prix of the year. Faced with controversy, McLaren then abandoned this rear wing – which was a special specification for fast circuits – while that Andrea Stella had said at the time that this story of “mini-DRS” was a “false lead”, understand a “decoy” to distract and disrupt its competitors…
Gaps to be respected in 2025
The governing body has therefore decided to react in order to avoid the return of this controversial "mini-DRS". In the revision of the 2025 F1 technical regulations, it is now specified as follows: "With the exception of the driver-adjustable wing (DRS, Ed.) when deployed, all aerodynamic components or bodywork influencing the aerodynamic performance of the car must be rigidly fixed and immobile relative to their reference frame defined in Article 3.3." The nuance brought comes in the addition of the mention "when [the DRS] is deployed", which was not present before and now means that the rear wing must remain perfectly fixed and motionless except when activating the DRS.
Further in this 2025 technical regulation, in article 3.10.1 dealing with the regulations concerning the rear wing, the FIA added some clarifications to define a minimum gap between the components of the rear wing when the DRS is not activated. “At any point along the wingspan, the rear wing profiles (as defined in Article 3.10.1) must have a minimum separation of between 9,4 mm and 13 mm. This applies when the DRS is not in the deployed state (as defined in Article 3.10.10) and will be measured using a spherical gauge.”
These adjustments should avoid any controversy over the flexibility of the rear wings in 2025… on the other hand, no changes have been made to the front wings, despite some remarks on their flexibility sometimes questionable during the 2024 season.
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Dorian Grangier
A young journalist nostalgic for the motorsport of yesteryear. Raised on the exploits of Sébastien Loeb and Fernando Alonso.
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Yves-Henri RANDIER
13/12/2024 at 11:43 a.m.
Small mistake for the intern who wrote the article! Kigali is in Rwanda (which hosts the FIA trophy ceremony and which wants to host an F1 Grand Prix without having the slightest automobile culture) and not in Kenya which has a real automobile culture both in rallies with the Safari and in circuits even if the 3 tracks of Embakasi Nairobi, Gilgil Langa Langa and Nakuru have disappeared because of the urbanization of the country! As for the disappearance of the mini-DRS, nothing surprising about that ... until the next discovery of the engineers.