Willis clarifies intention of letter to FIA

Willis was said to have video evidence that indicated the rear wing on Ferrari's 248 F1 was flexing at Imola - even though the FIA had moved to clamp down on this area following controversy at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

He subsequently wrote to FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting last week, in a bid to get clarification on the area so that his team were clear in what they were and were not allowed to do.

"The whole issue of flexible wings has come and gone quite a lot over the last two or three years," explained Willis at the European Grand Prix.

"It's an area which a lot of the teams often talk about to Charlie Whiting, the race director, seeking clarifications, asking what we can do and it's a subject which we discuss in the Technical Working Group from time to time.

"It is the case that people have been playing around with wings quite a lot. There are two main ways. People either try and get the whole wing to bend off... to twist off, reduce the drag at high speed, or play around with mechanisms that close or open the flap gap and I have to say that what we've discovered over the last year or so, is quite impressive, the amount of innovation out there.

"We've seen wings that bend in one way, flaps that bend in another way, wings that aren't bonded together. I think we've even seen an inflatable wing, which I must say I was very impressed with.

"But it's something where, if we hear something or we have an idea, then it's all part of the regular business of making technical inquiries to Charlie Whiting, asking whether we can do it.

"It's a little bit of a game generally with technical advances in Formula One, when you have a clever idea, or you think somebody else has got a clever idea, you either try and do it yourself or if you think it's close enough to a grey area you ask the right sort of question to the FIA, so it either gets stopped for everybody or permitted for everybody."