Red Bull's F1 car floor declared illegal

Redbull F1 car declared illegal !
BY RIK KAY – JUNE 2, 2012

Well the FIA have finally investigated the issues surrounding the Redbull F1 car’s floor, and declared the holes as a breach of the regulations. This was outlined in the pre-Canada technical directive, issued to all teams prior to the race.

“Following on from a number of discussions in Monaco, during which it became clear that certain misunderstandings existed, we feel it would be helpful to make our position clear with respect to the presence of a fully enclosed hole in any surface lying on the step plane,” the technical directive (codenamed TD/013-12) explains.

“It has been argued that, as it is not explicitly stated that fully enclosed holes cannot be located in a surface lying on the step plane rearward of a line 450mm forward of the rear face of the cockpit template, then they may be located in such areas. We disagree with this view and consider it implicit that fully enclosed holes may not be located there.

“If they were permitted the opening part of the second paragraph of Article 3.12.5 (which was added to the regulations at the same time as Articles 3.12.9 and 3.12.10 for 2011) would be superfluous.

“Furthermore, locating a fully enclosed hole partly or wholly within the 50mm band which is exempt from the requirements of Article 3.12.10 along the outer edges of the surfaces lying on the step plane does not exempt it from the requirements of Article 3.12.5, those parts lying outboard of Y650 are still parts of the surfaces lying on the step plane.”

Redbull are lucky that no team protested the Monaco GP results as this ruling could have stripped the team and drivers of the points. Redbull now have just under 1 week to change the design of its car