BMW facing protest over rear wing

The Japanese car manufacturer are one of several teams who are unhappy about visible flexing of the rear wing of BMW's F1.06 car, and have asked the team to make immediate modifications.

This comes despite slot-gap separators being made mandatory for this weekend in an effort to end the ongoing dispute over flexi-wings that has existed since the start of the year.

The teams obtained photographic evidence to support their claims during Friday practice at the Canadian Grand Prix and then subsequently voiced their concerns to the German car manufacturer.

Despite talks taking place all weekend between BMW and rival teams in the Montreal paddock, the situation has still not been resolved.

Honda boss Nick Fry has confirmed that his team are now thinking about lodging a protest if their cars are beaten by either Nick Heidfeld or Jacques Villeneuve tomorrow. It has been suggested that other teams could join the protest too.

Speaking to autosport.com, Fry said: "If they (BMW-Sauber) are contravening the rules then we would expect the FIA to do something about it. If they don't, then we will seriously consider lodging a protest."

Suspicions about BMW-Sauber's rear wing have been around for several races, but sources claim that rival teams became increasingly concerned about the situation at the British Grand Prix when the team started becoming more competitive.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis confirmed that a team had been spoken to about flexi wings, although he did not specifically name BMW-Sauber.

"One car on the grid exploited that phenomenon and they have been asked to address it," he explained.

Pictures of the rear wing of the BMW-Sauber suggest that the main element of the rear wing is flattening out at high-speed to reduce drag and therefore increase top speed on straights. In comparison, similar photos from other teams do not show a similar change. (See photos below).

According to sources, BMW said that they could not make immediate modifications to the wings on safety grounds for this weekend, but promised to do so by the French Grand Prix. Rival teams have said that this is not good enough.

The BMW-Sauber cars are now in parc ferme and the regulations do not allow the team to make any modifications to the rear wing before tomorrow's race.

BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen confirmed that his team had been approached by rival teams about the rear wing, but denied that his team were doing anything wrong.

"We have talked between the teams, but there is no clear indication that we have to do something," he explained. "The FIA has checked our rear wing more than once this year and we have not changed it."

When asked if the team had any plans to change the wing for the United States Grand Prix, Theissen said: "Not so far."

Theissen made it clear, however, that the FIA has not asked them to make any modifications.

"The FIA has not approached us and we are not using anything different from the past races. We did not need to change our rear wing after Silverstone because we had these slot-gap separators anyway and as I said, so far, no one (from the FIA) has talked to us."