While Red Bull boss Christian Horner is happy that the FIA has moved to take action on the latest F1 flexi-wing saga instalment, the timings for the changes have left him perplexed.

That is because in the FIA’s two-part course of action, part two will not come into effect until the F1 2025 season is well underway.

Christian Horner asks FIA: ‘Race nine. Why nine?’

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper

Chatter about flexi-wings is never far away in the F1 paddock, and it was a matter that got brought up again in 2024, McLaren and Mercedes facing scrutiny from rivals Red Bull and Ferrari.

Formula 1’s governing body the FIA ruled that no breach of the regulations had occurred after utilising cameras on front wings to monitor flexing.

However, changes have been made for F1 2025, as more stringent testing on rear wing deflection will be in operation from the start – the season getting underway with the Australian Grand Prix on March 16 – while as of the Spanish Grand Prix – Round 9 in F1 2025 – similar tests will be introduced for the front wings.

And it is the timing of when these tests come into force which Horner does not understand.

Speaking to the media, including PlanetF1.com, at the F1 75 season launch event in London, Horner said: “I think it’s good that they’ve addressed it. Obviously there’s been a change and a tidy up to the rear wing.

“The front wing gets changed at race nine. Why nine? I don’t know, but it is what it is. It’s the same for everyone.

“It just means that you’ve got a pre-race nine and a post-race nine set of issues to deal with, which inevitably will drive cost.”

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However, the delayed arrival of the front wing test changes is just fine with Ferrari.

“For me, it’s not an issue,” team principal Fred Vasseur told media including PlanetF1.com.

“I think it’s good to have clarity. The most important for me is to know that we have to change something on the front wing by Barcelona, for example.

“You can discuss about the timing, because it’s the week after Monaco, and we need to come to Monaco with a full package of front wing. But at the end of the day, it’s good for us – it’s good for the development and the planification to know when we have to bring something.

“The worst case scenario would have [been] to start the season like we are today and in two or three races, to come with a TD [technical directive] to change something, because it’s much more difficult to planify. And in this case, it would have been a mess.

“But honestly, we all know the situation. We were all planning to bring an upgrade on the front wing during the season, but like this we know that we’ll have to do it by Barcelona.”

Meanwhile, reigning Constructors’ World Champions McLaren confirmed that the front wing on their MCL39 will require tweaking to satisfy the FIA’s revised tests to come.

That being said, the team does not expect this to turn into a “headache”.

“No headache at all,” team principal Andrea Stella assured Sky Sports News on the FIA’s front-wing technical directive. “We don’t have to make many adjustments at all for the start of the season.

“There will be a small adjustment required from race nine.

“I know it’s become a big talking point, but in terms of what makes us busy and what gives us headaches, actually there are completely different topics which have much more to do with gaining those tenths of a second, that I might have made look simple.

“I don’t want to look disrespectful to all the men and women at McLaren who work so hard and competently to actually make a faster car off what was already a very fast car in 2024.”

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