How the new FIA technical directive at the Spanish GP has affected F1 2025’s pecking order

Image credit: Jamie Slack Media. The all-dominant McLarens were rumoured to be affected the most by the technical directive.

The 2025 Spanish Grand Prix saw the introduction of a long-awaited FIA, the governing body of Formula 1, technical directive clampdown regarding the recent controversial ‘flexi-wings’ dispute, which teams like Red Bull have suggested could shake up the pecking order for the rest of this season.

The clampdown concerns a harsher restriction on the extent to which carbon fibre endplates on F1 cars can bend under the extortionate g-force the machines are exposed to. Carbon fibre is the dominant component to an F1 car’s exoskeleton (contributing up to around 85% of the car) as it is strong and fortifying whilst equally being lightweight and nimble.

Ongoing FIA aerodynamic load tests and enforcements has seen the maximum tolerant distance between the main wing and the DRS flap (labelled the ‘slot gap’) reduce drastically from 2mm to 0.5mm.

The issue of these illegal ‘flexi-wings’ was notably flagged at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix as onboard cameras appeared to specifically show the ends of eventual race winner Oscar Piastri’s McLaren’s rear wing bending outside of the designated DRS zones, during his outright street fight with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Despite Piastri’s impeccable race craft, it was assumed that the raised endplates would provide the Australian with added downforce, and consequently speed, across the full lap - essentially operating as a ‘mini-DRS’.

Mercedes, who scored a 1-2 around the fast-flowing streets of Las Vegas last year, were also linked with a potential breach of the legal limit of flexibility, alongside Alpine.

Further directives at this year’s Chinese Grand Prix caused nearly half of the grid to adjust their rear wings. However, the technical directive for Spain has sparked more car adaptation and innovation from several other teams, including Ferrari and Haas, to avoid being penalised.

Red Bull, who have faced both performance and organisational struggles this season (including the driver swap between full-season rookie Liam Lawson and the now-experienced Yuki Tsunoda), hoped that this would dissipate McLaren’s clear advantage this season and springboard their lead driver Max Verstappen back into championship contention.  

However, the clampdown didn’t produce the seismic waves that talk had riled up.

Oscar Piastri claimed pole position at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, two tenths ahead of team-mate Lando Norris – the largest pole margin so far this season. Verstappen fell short of Piastri’s time by a damning three tenths, qualifying third after setting an identical lap time to Mercedes’ George Russell.

Current championship leader Piastri went on to seamlessly convert pole to victory on Sunday, with Norris bringing up the rear to secure McLaren’s first 1-2 finish in Spain in a staggering 25 years.

Verstappen, in contrast, suffered a frustrating Grand Prix in which the four-time champion endured a hindering strategy, which led him to perform an incredible save on the wrong tyre choice before tempers reached boiling point with a self-caused collision with recent rival Russell. 

So despite this technical directive rumoured to be a performance neutraliser, it seems that F1 2025’s all-dominant team has currently avoided being knocked off its perch.