F1 rule change ahead of China GP could have serious impact on Oscar Piastri’s title hopes

In a shock move that could seriously impact Oscar Piastri’s quest for a world title, F1 teams have been given just five days to make a significant change to cars ahead of the China GP.

Formula One bosses have announced a shock rule change, giving teams just five days to fix rear wing flex in a move that could seriously impact McLaren and Australian Oscar Piastri’s quest for a world title.

FIA emailed every team on Monday morning after the Melbourne Grand Prix to advise stricter checks would be made on the flex in the rear wing.

Because of the short turnaround between Australia and the Chinese grand prix starting on Friday, there would be a small leeway applied this weekend but the message loud and clear to the teams is the “mini-DRS” benefit three of the top teams appear to gain must stop now.

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The rear wing movement of McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes late last year and in the pre-season was labelled a “mini-DRS” by Red Bull experts and was the talk of pitlane with rivals believing it gave those teams added speed advantages.

Officials will be stricter in their checks on the flex in the rear wing of cars. Picture: Getty

At high speed slight movement in the rear wing produced a very small gap, similar to DRS where the rear wing opens in specific sections of the track to increase speed by 10-15km/h and allow greater opportunity for passing.

Red Bull’s technical director Pierre Wache told The Race he believed FIA had not solved the rear wing dramas his team first raised last year as McLaren came from behind to claim the constructors’ championship.

“I think Ferrari and McLaren are doing the mini-DRS stuff still,” Wache said.

The FIA has moved quickly after Melbourne to nullify the supposed advantage, drastically cutting the legal limit which could put top teams at great risk of being penalised or disqualified if they breach the rules on race day.

“As has been previously communicated, between the end of the 2024 season and the start of the 2025 season, the FIA exercised the authority it is granted under Article 3.15.1 of the Technical Regulations to introduce either new or more challenging load-deflection tests for the front wing (from Race 9, Spanish Grand Prix), the upper rear wing, and the beam rear wing,” FIA said in a statement to teams.

“In addition, the FIA requested to the teams to use cameras in Free Practice Sessions to monitor the on-track deformations exhibited by the cars during the Australian Grand Prix.

Lando Norris (leading) and Australia’s Oscar Piastri benefited from the ‘mini-DRS’ in Melbourne. Picture: Getty

Having analysed footage from the rear wing deformations combined to the static deflections measured inside the FIA garage in Melbourne, the FIA has concluded that sufficient grounds exist for a tougher test to be introduced from the forthcoming Chinese Grand Prix on the upper rear wing.

“More specifically, Article 3.15.17, introduced in 2025, states that if 75Kg of vertical load is applied on either extremity of the rear wing mainplane, the distance between the mainplane and the flap (also known as “slot gap”) must not vary by more than 2mm.

“From the forthcoming Grand Prix in Shanghai, this limit will be reduced to 0.5mm. Due to the short notice for Shanghai only a tolerance of 0.25mm will be added to this new limit.

The Teams were informed of this revised test early Monday 17th of March.

“The FIA wishes to further confirm that during the Melbourne event all cars tested against the requirements of Article 3.15.17 and found to comply, therefore all cars raced in Melbourne were deemed to be legal.”

Piastri finished ninth at his home grand prix after spinning out onto the grass late in the race. Picture: Getty

As is always the case in the intense world of F1, the moment any team shows a significant advantage over the others the whispering campaign and accusations start to fly.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner highlighted McLaren’s “strange” advantage of tyre management as another cause for concern – especially as race winner Lando Norris and Aussie Piastri opened an 18-second gap over Max Verstappen at Albert Park.

“It was clear what the pecking order was today in terms of pace,” Horner told reporters post race.

“I think it’s different to every body, yes. And what’s quite strange is that they enjoy great warm-up, but also, [a] very low degradation. Usually one comes at the expense of the other, so they’ve certainly, at this circuit, seem to have mastered that.”

Originally published as F1 rule change ahead of China GP could have serious impact on Oscar Piastri’s title hopes