chrcol, on 18 Sept 2024 - 10:08, said:
What is article 3.8?
A load test isnt a way to know if something is moving, as I said weird rules.
Googling seems to show front wing is 3.9. Its a lot to read in there though so I didnt.
I found this quote on a website, I dont know if its word for word accurate.
That is just is too vague, and open to exploitation. It needs to be a simple movement less than XX mm whilst the car is in motion, which can be measured by onboard camera easy enough.
Taking into account Gareth's reply above, I will speculate the rules are deliberately open to interpretation so the FIA can use them as a tool to manipulate a season, so e.g. if they want a close championship they allow or disallow things on the car to help them achieve that, so its good e.g. to right now allow Mclaren to keep the wing.
It is not vague at all. It is just physically impossible hence deflection tests for conformity.
By the written rules any amount of flex = illegal so if the FIA decide to update the static load tests to test for this kind of deflection they can and they are allowed to per the rules even mid season. They don't tend to because it costs time and money to build these parts and with the budget cap suddenly changing the test can have knock on effects but if the FIA feel they can't allow this then they will change the test after a notice period. Teams can then make the judgement call as to if developing this is worth it and the team that has been running it had an advantage for a while.