F1 To Test Lewis Hamilton Car Base On The Complaint Table From Abu Dhabi Finale Investigation

Formula 1 are set to make a testing change for the 2022 campaign, following a season of accusations against seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and the rear wing of his car.
The 2021 title race was one of the closest in living memory, as Hamilton battled it out against Red Bull rival Max Verstappen right down the very last lap of the year.

Throughout the title battle, tensions were of course high with the smallest of margins so important, and this led to many questions being asked by Red Bull regarding Hamilton’s Mercedes car.

Complaints mainly came from Red Bull boss Christian Horner, who felt the advantage Mercedes were gaining through their rear wing was ‘hidden in the way it operates’.
Following the accusations Horner revealed that Hamilton’s car was being discussed by the FIA, as he commented:

“I think that obviously concerns us. And that’s why Adrian [Newey, chief technical officer] and Paul [Monaghan, chief engineer} have been discussing it with the FIA.”

Following this the sport’s governing body introduced a new rear wing test at last season’s Qatar Grand Prix.
As a result the newly introduced test found no illegality surrounding the Mercedes rear wing, but F1’s head of single-seater matters Nikolas Tombazis reveals the testing requires improvement for 2022.

Tombazis told motorsport.com: “In Qatar, there was no monkey business identified, or anything like that.

“If you load it in the downward direction, it’s quite stiff, so we want to manage to load it in a direction that is normal.
“But then it’s a bit more difficult because we can’t use gravity.
“So we need to fine tune it, and it needs a bit more give to be prepared for it. It’s not impossible, of course.”