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Formula One
F1: Front Wings Legal, Team Bosses Insist
The team bosses at Ferrari and Red Bull say their cars' front wings don't skirt the rules...
Adam Cooper  | http://www.speedtv.com  |  Posted July 30, 2010   Budapest (HUN)
The legality of the front wing on the Red Bull cars has been questioned by rival teams. (Photo: Getty Images)
The controversy over flexing front wings was further stoked Friday when the FOM TV director spent a lot of timing comparing the Formula One cars in Hungary.

Pictures clearly showed the endplates of the Red Bull wing in particular almost touching the ground, while the Ferrari front wing also appeared to be lower than that of other cars, as rivals have claimed in recent weeks.

Team bosses Stefano Domenicali and Christian Horner insist that the front wings of their respective cars have passed all FIA compliance tests and thus their legality cannot be questioned.

“There are compliance tests which are pretty stringent that all components have to meet,” said Horner. “It is interesting where the emphasis moves. So far this year we have had active ride height, we have had suspension, we have had diffusers looked at. We have had front wings.

“As always there is never a silver bullet. The performance of any car comes down to how design philosophy and a combination of components work as opposed to any one particular component. There are stringent tests. I am happy that our car complies with all the regulations and take it as a compliment to our engineers when a fuss like this is sometimes made by rival teams."

“For me, it is not a matter of opinion,” said Domenicali. “We need to rely on the governing body that is doing all the checks that they want. They did, at least I can say on our car, so it is a matter of respecting the regulations and really that’s it.

“There are certain tests that you have to do with the front wing as you can do with other parts of the car and you have to respect the loads and the tests that are connected to that part specifically and if you pass that, then that’s done.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 25th season as a racing journalist in 2009. Born in London, England, he saw his first F1 race at age 10 in 1976. He began freelancing for Autosport magazine in 1985 and was on the fulltime staff from 1987-92. He then went freelance again, initially spending two years in Japan before following the 1994 Champcar series from a base in Indianapolis. He has not missed a Grand Prix since Suzuka ‘94, a run that has extended to Abu Dhabi ’09. Adam has written books about Eddie Irvine, Piers Courage and Michael Schumacher and hosts a race preview show on Sirius XM. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Check out Adam's Blog or follow him on Twitter

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