FIA explains front wing rule change delay, record US audience for Monaco GP and more · RaceFans

Comment of the day

Formula 1 said their 2022 regulations had been designed to improve racing and overtaking, but three years on any gains appear to have been reversed:

When they conceived the 2022 regulations they, the FIA, said they would be tweaking them as they went to try and stop teams from finding, exploiting and successfully overcoming the loopholes each and every regulation set there has ever existed. But, as always, the FIA allowed the loopholes for the most part to exist and continue to the point where cars cannot, once again, follow each other without some considerable dirty air being produced.

The FIA simply missed the boat and these new rules for 2026 will be the same as the current ones. I fail to understand why we keep faulting the tracks when clearly in my mind it is not the tracks but the failure of the FIA to constantly monitor and tweak the rules to keep them in line with what was originally conceived.BenjaminS (@Benihana)

Social media and links

FIA Insights: Staying ahead of the curve – Why the FIA is stiffening the tests around wing flexibility (FIA)

Nikolas Tombzais: ‘Over a sequence of races at and following the Belgian Grand Prix we installed cameras on the front wings of all cars and again we concluded that the tests would need to be toughened. That conclusion was arrived at quite late in the year, however, and we felt that if we had introduced extra tests at the start of this season, it would have been tough on teams and may have led to existing front wings being scrapped, and extra expense. Therefore, we felt that deferred introduction was more sensible.’

Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix telecast on ABC attracts largest live audience ever for iconic event (ESPN)

‘The audience broke the event’s record viewership of 2.0 million that watched last year’s race, with viewership peaking at 2.6 million during the 10:30-10:45 a.m. quarter hour. An average of 917,000 viewers were in the Persons ages 18-49 demographic.’

Explaining our pit stop strategy (Mercedes)

‘One thing that will come towards us next year is slightly smaller, slightly lighter cars that may make it just create more relative space for overtaking in Monaco, which will be one of the circuits that is quite energy rich. And so we’ll see high levels of performance, but also smaller, more agile cars that may well help us to achieve that.’

Jesse Carrasquedo joins Hitech’s F3 Line-up (Hitech)

‘The Mexican driver will replace Joshua Dufek, who left the team following the last event in Monaco.’

Russell frustration sums up confusion and silliness of Monaco Grand Prix (The Telegraph)

‘Clearly, the FIA’s rule change for the Monaco Grand Prix did not work. They had an idea to improve the racing by in effect making every driver stop at least twice. It did not make the race better; it made it more confusing for everyone involved.’

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