31/05/2025 18:35
Lewis Hamilton has slated as "a waste of money" the latest FIA
regulation change introduced into F1 this weekend. Considerable
fanfare had been aired about the FIA's decision to clampdown on
flexible wings following complaints made by some teams last season
against their rivals. Motorsport's world governing body opted to
introduce new load tests for both rear and front wings, the former
from the start of the campaign, and the latter from this weekend's
Spanish Grand Prix. The delay over the front wings was in fairness
to the teams to avoid designing a new component for the season's
start when they would have spent considerable sums of money on an
original. Seven-time F1 champion Hamilton, however, has pulled no
punches in his condemnation of the decision which he feels has made
no difference after experiencing the effect of the new front wing
over the opening two days of the event so far at Barcelona's
Circuit de Catalunya. Speaking to media post-qualifying, and asked
by RacingNews365 on whether he had noticed any discernible
difference, Hamilton replied: "The balance is definitely not as as
nice as we had before, but it hasn't made any odds. What a waste of
money! "It's just wasted everyone's money. It's literally changed
nothing. "Everyone's wings still bend, which is half the bending,
and everyone's had to make new wings, and spend more money to make
these. It's just doesn't make sense. It is what it is, and we just
continue on." Hamilton then answered a question on an unrelated
topic, and was poised to answer another when he voluntarily
returned to the front-wing situation. He added: "Should have given
the money to charity. I know, let's waste some money!" Hamilton
confused Hamilton will start the Spanish GP from fifth on the grid,
out-qualifying Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc for only the
second time this season, and the first since the second race of the
campaign in China. Hamilton had described his car as "not
driveable" over the radio during the second practice session, but
he and his team found performance overnight to elevate him to
within a quarter of a second of second-on-the-grid Lando Norris in
his McLaren. Dismissing suggestions he was frustrated after Friday
practice, Hamilton explained the situation. "I was just confused
because we didn't really change anything in the car," said
Hamilton. "We lost some downforce from the floor, and there was a
massive shift in balance, and we didn't do anything. "We discovered
it afterwards, and we rectified that, and the car has been much
better, so we have clearly improved for qualifying, which is a real
positive. "But we've got to keep building from here because we
clearly don't have the pace of the guys up ahead."
