The FIA will discuss a plan to outlaw exhaust wings in Formula 1 for 2027 with teams, off the back of the development war that Ferrari has triggered this season, The Race has learned.
Ferrari appeared in the final pre-season test with an innovative new wing solution behind its rear tail pipe.
While aerodynamic solutions in this part of the car are, in theory, frowned upon, Ferrari had found a way to fit its concept – which is known as the flick tail mode (FTM) – through allowances for extra components fitted close to the gearbox.
Unique design choices made by the team concerning where its gearbox is in relation to the rear crash structure opened the door for its wing, which is used to help manipulate hot exhaust gases.
Ferrari’s customer team Haas, which buys its rear end from Maranello, was able to follow suit with its own exhaust wing design for China, while other squads had previously been unable to adopt the idea because of the positioning of their gearboxes.
However, ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, Ferrari’s rivals had worked out a different way of introducing exhaust wings – with six teams all appearing this weekend with their own versions.
McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, Williams, Alpine, and Cadillac have all integrated different wing ideas through an exploitation of Article C3.9.2 of F1’s technical regulations.
This allows for a single exhaust tailpipe “support” – without explicitly specifying how limited it must be beyond falling within legality boxes for the exhaust tailpipe and the crash structure and straddling both.
While the FIA is satisfied that the designs running on all the cars right now comply with the rules as they are, sources have revealed that it wants to clamp down on this area for next year.
This is because it does not want ever-more complicated aerodynamic trickery to appear in the exhaust area, and feels it’s better to stop it becoming a tech war.
While no formal decision has been made yet, team sources have revealed that the FIA has made clear its intention – and discussions will now take place with technical chiefs about framing a rule change.
Because the matter is not a safety issue, any changes to the rules to clamp down on the development of exhaust wings would need support from teams to be voted through the official channels.
The move to outlaw exhaust wings, which were pioneered by Ferrari, comes after it emerged that the FIA is also looking to ban the halo wings that the team also introduced this year.