The FIA is planning a further clampdown on so-called flexi wings from next month’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, PlanetF1.com can reveal.

After flexible wings emerged as a hot topic in 2024, F1’s governing body is taking a firm stance on the issue in the early months of the F1 2025 season.

FIA to introduce more flexi-wing measures from Japanese Grand Prix

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

The FIA issued a Technical Directive in February warning teams that more stringent load-deflection tests to the front wing will be introduced from the Spanish Grand Prix weekend in late May, the ninth race of the year.

The measure has proven controversial among teams given the potential to upset the order halfway through the season.

Meanwhile, the teams were informed of a renewed effort to monitor rear wings ahead of last Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix with a Technical Directive instructing them to install a rear-facing housing to accommodate cameras, allowing the FIA to monitor rear wing deflection in Friday’s practice sessions at Albert Park.

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All 10 teams were found to have complied with the deflection limits in Australia.

However, a further twist arrived on Monday when the FIA announced that it had found ‘sufficient grounds’ for a ‘tougher test’ to the upper rear wing to be introduced from this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix.

And in a new Technical Directive distributed to teams, TD055A, the FIA’s single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis has confirmed that even further measures will come into force from the following round in Japan on April 4-6.

Significantly, Tombazis confirms that the changes introduced at Suzuka are expected to be absorbed into an updated version of F1’s technical regulations, subject to FIA World Motor Motorsport Council approval, before the end of this month.

Technical Directives, never made available to the public, are usually mere interpretations of rules expressed by an FIA official, with the plan to include the Japanese GP measures in the F1 2025 regulations an indication of the governing body’s seriousness in tackling the issue of flexi wings.

From the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend, the level of flex permitted will be reduced to 0.75mm under the static test loads, while the level of flex permitted will be reduced down to 0.5mm from the Japanese Grand Prix.

The static tests, in terms of load applications points, means of application, and measurement methodology, will remain unchanged.

McLaren driver Lando Norris enters the Chinese Grand Prix weekend in the lead of the World Championships for the first time in his career following his pole-to-flag victory in Australia.

It means Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who finished second in Melbourne, has lost the lead of the Drivers’ standings for the first time since May 2022.

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