21/05/2011
NEWS STORY
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During Friday practice in Barcelona, eyebrows were raised when Ferrari debuted a new-spec rear wing that their opponents thought bordered on the illegal.
The new rear wing, which Ferrari ran in both practice sessions on Friday, was immediately obvious as being higher than previous models.
While there are strict rules governing wing height, the Italian team's modification was an attempt to exploit loopholes governing slot-gap indicators, which are not taken into account when measuring the rear wing.
On Friday evening, FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting told reporters he was undecided on the legality of the Scuderia's revised rear wing.
"It's a very clever interpretation of the rules and we've got to decide whether we think it's a good interpretation of the rules," Whiting said last night.
But by Saturday morning, Whiting had made up his mind - clever or not, the wing was illegal.
"They told us that the concept is not legal," a Ferrari spokesman confirmed.
Ferrari will now be using the Istanbul-spec rear wing for the remainder of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.