FiA – the governing body behind Formula One racing has banned the wing mirrors used by Ferrari at last weekend’s 2018 Spanish Grand Prix. The FiA did not approve of the way the mirrors were mounted to the halo head-protection device on the car – which did not provide any advantage to either Ferrari as Kimi Raikkonen retired in the 25th lap with an engine issue while Sebastian Vettel finished fourth as he did not have the power to contend with either Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton or Valtteri Bottas and was unable to keep pace with the Red Bull of Max Verstappen – yet the FiA somewhat mystifyingly contended that Ferrari’s mirrors gave them too much aerodynamic advantage.
Ferrari had a secondary mounting on their mirrors, the FiA says that, in the future, any team that wants to mount wing mirrors on the halo must do so with only a single mounting, or any secondary one must satisfy two criteria:
◾It must provide a “meaningful structural contribution to the mounting system”, which teams may be asked to demonstrate to officials.
◾It must be “mounted to the lower and/or inboard surface(s) of the mirror housing”
Ferrari’s secondary mount was above the mirror and formed an outward-leaning curve that the FiA determined was an aerodynamic advantage.