FIA believes there is "no link between Technical Directives and F1 performance differences"

FIA believes there is “no link between Technical Directives and F1 performance differences”. The Technical Directives have not affected the results and performance on track, according to the FIA.

Balance is there, but behind Max Verstappen
The last F1 season was dominated by Red Bull, victorious in 21 of the 22 GPs, and Max Verstappen, author of 19 victories for the Milton Keynes-based team. Not exactly the alternation at the top that F1 and the FIA hoped for when the new technical regulations were introduced. However, it should be noted that behind the Dutchman, the star of a separate championship, the competition was very balanced. From second to eighth place in the championship, only 110 points separated the drivers.

“The grid is closer; the difference is made by Max Verstappen and Red Bull,” commented Nicholas Tombazis, who holds the position of director of the single-seater department within the FIA’s organization chart. The stability of the regulations can help teams converge in terms of performance, but it can also favor extreme solutions that, for example, make overtaking more difficult.

Dirty air and technical directives
“This year [the issue of dirty air produced by the leading car] has worsened. We knew it would happen. There are some holes in the regulations that could not be closed in time, such as the endplate of the front wings and the area around the wheels. These are areas that make it more difficult to follow a car. The wakes, the ability to follow a car, have worsened compared to 2022, but they are still better than in 2021,” explained the 55-year-old Greek engineer, as recently reported by the Spanish site AS.

In recent years, the FIA has intervened several times during the season with technical directives – the one on porpoising being famous – to correct aspects of the regulations that were slipping out of control. However, these maneuvers have often caused annoyance among fans, convinced that such decisions were implemented in favor of one team or another. Nicholas Tombazis, however, denied that the infamous Technical Directives have affected the results and performance on track: “I don’t think there was a link between technical directives and performance. This year, in general, the teams behaved well,” – the former Ferrari engineer concluded.