F1 'spaceship' mirrors set for review amid rule 'discrepency'

F1 teams will come together on Tuesday to discuss a potential regulation "discrepency" involving the aggressive "spaceship" design of the mirrors featured on Mercedes W13.

The Brackley squad rolled out a significantly upgraded car in Bahrain last week, with the most spectacular element of Mercedes' package being the incredibly tight and narrow sidepod concept on its W13.

But the Silver Arrow update also included a heavily profiled wing mirror design mounted on an aero fin integrated into the car's mandatory Sid Impact Protection System (SIPS) that also featured a series of vertical vanes.

Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto took exception with the mirror design devised by Mercedes, calling for a clampdown on the "spaceship" concept, insisting it was not within the spirit of F1's regulations.

"It’s something for the future that needs to be addressed," said the Scuderia boss last week. "Already in the past, we said the mirrors should have no aero purpose.

"They should be there just to look behind and I think the way that they [Mercedes] design the cars has a significant aero purpose in the mirrors."

Teams are set to discuss the issue at a meeting on Tuesday of the FIA's Techncial Advisory Committee (TAC), to determine whether a "discrepency" regarding how the xars are designed has crept into the rule book.

"We always assess rules for following years, and we assess whether things are clear," said the FIA’s Nikolas Tombazis.

"And when there are new rules, sometimes certain things may not have been phrased as well as we intended and so on.

"By and large, the level of discrepancy is quite low from what was intended. But there are a few little areas and we’ve discussed that with the teams.

"We’ll have another TAC meeting Tuesday to discuss these matters."

• Read also: Binotto wants clampdown on Mercedes 'spaceship' mirrors

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner is confident the mirror design issue will be addressed comprehensively in Tuesday's meeting.

"You certainly don't want to get into a mirror war," he said. "So much time in these technical meetings over the last 10 years or so has been talking about the function of the mirrors and whether they become wings or not, and it is probably not the intention.

"I'm sure in the right forum, in the TAC meeting they have, that will probably be addressed and discussed there."

Ferrari's contention is that Mercedes' mirrors may not comply with Article 2.2.2. of the technical regulations which states "the aerodynamic influence of any component of the car not considered to be bodywork must be incidental to its main function" and that "any design which aims to maximise such an aerodynamic influence is prohibited".

However, Tombazis admits that the article, as it is currently written, is open to interpretation, and would allow teams to consider a 'mirror stay' as bodywork.

"The regulations state that bodywork declared as 'mirrors stay' - and there's two types of stay - must fulfil certain conditions," he explained.

"It must lie in this box, it must lie in whatever, not have sections or whatever. The way that it's phrased, it assigns the name mirror stay to that bodywork that is declared as such.

"The regulation could have said the bodywork declared as ABC must lie in that, and it doesn't, There's no direct association between the name and the function.

"In other areas of the car, in other areas of the regulations, we have a statement like: 'for the sole purpose of something, you must do XYZ.' And then we take a different view there, because it says there the regulations state specifically an objective or a reason for the existence of a certain component.

"If we see a team obviously doing something different and using that function as an excuse, we tend to not allow it.

"On the other hand, for the mirror stays, that wording isn't there, and therefore, at least at the moment, we've formed that opinion."

The most likely outcome of Tuesday's meeting is a clarification of the specific regulation and its adjustment for 2021, with Mercedes likely allowed to retain its "spaceship" wing ensemble on its W13 Silver Arrow.

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