Technical analysis: front wing controversy

Such in-car footage, aired on Germany's Premiere channel during qualifying, has led teams to believe that either the upper element of Ferrari's front wing is twisting, or the whole front wing assembly is flexing at speed.

Both of these movements are considered outside the spirit of the regulations, and the latter movement ought to contravene the existing FIA deflection test for front wings.

This flexing could allow the front wing to provide downforce at lower speeds, then at higher speed - as the wing bends backwards - to improving top speeds, by preventing the increase of downforce and drag.

What has been seen on TV, is the in-board mount for the upper element. This consists of a sliding pin that allows the wing to move laterally relative to the nose-cone.

The movement can be seen (as illustrated by the yellow arrow) by clear space appearing between the wing and the nose. This space opens up when the car jumps around on the bumps, but also - and more disturbingly - upon increasing speed.

This movement can be caused by several potential explanations. As with any F1 car's bodywork, the front wing assembly does shake around as the car goes over bumps and kerbs. This would require some free movement in the mounting, but would not explain the gap increasing with speed.

This speed-related gap could be a result of the aerodynamic load flexing the wing in one of two ways, too: by the twisting of the upper element itself, or by the drooping of the lower wing under load (as illustrated by the yellow lines). Either of these movements could be deemed as aerodynamically beneficial.

Although the wings of most teams do show a degree of flex, as the wing is supported so close to its centre-line, the outer tips are not very well supported.

For many years (and in Sepang this weekend) on-car footage has shown many front wings flex at high speed, although this has never been seized upon by other teams or the FIA before.

Drooping front wings were, by coincidence, something that Ferrari were accused of in 2000, and an FIA test - to see if the wing drooped, by placing a load on the endplate - was introduced back then.

As the Ferrari current front wing has passed this long-standing test, it is deemed legal within the wording of the current rule-book.

What rival teams are upset about is that the rules are not entirely clear with regards to how rigid the bodywork must be, saying the current deflection tests are outdated and do not counter what Ferrari and several other teams might be doing with the front wing assembly.

Teams sail very close to what may be deemed as legal. And now that the matter has been raised with a whiff of acrimony, the FIA will most likely issue a clearer guidance before the Australian Grand Prix at the end of this month.