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This current era of ground effect Formula 1 is all about trying to run the cars as consistently low to the ground as you can get away with, because there is exponentially more aerodynamic performance available at lower ride-heights.
The problem is the hard limit of the ground, and the bits of your car that will inevitably hit that limit as the downforce increases - one of which is the legality plank underneath the car, which is the focus of the 2024 F1 season's latest technical controversy.
We’ve seen teams run into serious problems with this before. Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes and Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari were both excluded from the 2023 United States Grand Prix for excessive wear in this area.
The FIA measures legality of plank in four places, using designated holes at the very front (in the bib area) and rear of the plank - as well as two parallel holes just behind where the bib area ends.
The so-called skid blocks are effectively bits of material that replace the plank material where the plank meets the legality holes.
Before this latest FIA clampdown, some teams were running extra material in this area - effectively to sacrifice for wear to protect what was already there and create a buffer around the points at which the FIA takes its legality measurement.
Multiple teams have had to make adjustments to their skid blocks ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix - at least half the grid from what The Race has been told - and those teams will have had to remove this additional material.
Depending on how much sacrificial material they were using before, they will also likely need to increase the ride-height of the car to protect against excessive wear that will now inevitably occur on the material now exposed.
It’s been suggested some teams may need to come up on ride-height by several millimetres, which is not game-changing to the competitive order, but will have a tangible impact on car performance - particularly around a track like the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, where running the cars low to reduce drag on the straights while increasing performance in the low-speed corners is important.
We already know Ferrari and Red Bull have had to tweak their plank designs ahead of Las Vegas, a process Ferrari’s Jock Clear called “not a big drama to deal with”.
Mercedes has confirmed to The Race that it has had to make adjustments, and it’s been suggested Sauber is also among those teams affected. The team has been contacted to verify this.
RB racing director Alan Permane said his team remained unaffected by the new directive but suggested Haas and Alpine have had to make changes.
“I believe Haas and Alpine were exploiting it,” he told gathered media in the paddock ahead of first practice. “Maybe it will slow them down a bit, I don't know. If it does, it will be very small I'm sure.
“It was extremely easy for us, because it didn't affect us at all. We haven't changed our plank.”
