‘Very unhappy’ F1 teams furious with FIA over Spanish Grand Prix change that’s a ‘complete waste of money’

The 2025 Spanish Grand Prix was billed as the race where the pecking order on the grid could potentially be shaken up by a new technical directive introduced by the FIA.

Every Formula 1 car was subject to more stringent flexibility tests on their front wings at the Spanish Grand Prix, but so far, it doesn’t appear to have made a noticeable difference.

McLaren are still the team to beat with Oscar Piastri joined by Lando Norris on the front row of the grid.

Red Bull were hoping the front wing rule changes would be game-changing but Max Verstappen was still a few tenths behind the McLaren duo during qualifying.

The update hasn’t made a noticeable difference, with Lewis Hamilton calling it a ‘waste of money’ after he set the fifth-quickest time on Saturday.

However, the FIA made another change during the race weekend that has also not gone down well in the paddock.

A change to the skid blocks underneath the car to try and avoid grass fires at the track has been introduced but has left several teams ‘very unhappy’ this weekend.

READ MORE: FIA furious with all 10 F1 teams after studying Australian Grand Prix onboard footage

New F1 skid blocks dubbed ‘complete waste of money’ at the Spanish Grand Prix

Journalist Jon Noble was speaking on The Race F1 Patreon about the Spanish Grand Prix weekend and the changes being made to the cars.

He explained: “They’re testing out steel skid blocks on the cars. The FIA want to pursue this route because of problems caused by grass fires at the Japanese Grand Prix this year and China last year.

“They believe it’s caused by titanium which when the shards of metal come off, causing a spark, those shards keep the heat.

“Steel, not as dense, doesn’t retain its heat for as long, so the belief is that it won’t cause any repeat of this.

“From the outside, it seems like a fairly innocuous, innocent shift.

“The problem for the teams is steel’s heavier. I think if they run steel skid blocks, they’re 750g more but worse than that, it wears more.

“Someone we spoke to, Inaki Rueda [Sauber’s sporting director], said it’s like butter compared to a titanium skid block, in which case if it does wear like that, teams are going to have to lift their cars up to avoid the skid block wearing too much and falling foul of the plank rules and if you have to start lifting the car, you’re affecting the aerodynamics and the ride height.

“And that can have a bigger impact on the competitive order than potentially the TD on flexi wings.

“So, I think this could become a big talking point because I know some teams are very unhappy about this prospect of steel skid blocks.

“They think it’s a complete waste of money and effort when they think the problem of potential grass fires can be solved by circuits watering the grass.”

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McLaren impacted by FIA directive ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix

Many F1 teams wondered if the change in front wing flexibility would have a bigger impact on McLaren than anyone else on the grid.

Ferrari were confident F1’s latest rule change would benefit them, but it doesn’t appear to have made a significant difference.

Piastri and Norris will both be desperate to lead coming out of the first chicane in Spain, but their team bosses will hope they can put their rivalry aside to keep Verstappen and their other rivals behind them during the initial stages of the race.

McLaren were affected by another FIA directive leading up to this race and have done well to maintain their advantage over the rest of the field.

However, it will be interesting to see if the new skid blocks become a permanent feature and how teams are going to find additional weight saving needed going forward.