Could late F1 2023 rule changes help big teams?

After much debate, the floor edge of the cars will be raised in 2023 and the height of the diffuser throat will also be raised, while the floor edges will also be stiffer to combat the dreaded bounce problem that plagued some F1 teams in 2022.

The FIA ​​will also require an additional sensor to be placed on the floor to monitor the guinea pigs.

Instead of the 25mm floor rise that was originally proposed by the FIA ​​and opposed by several teams, a compromise of 15mm has now been put forward.

Ferrari and Red Bull were among the teams against the changes at the time McLaren and Mercedes – who struggled the most with bounce – pushed for the change for safety reasons.

In an announcement on Tuesday, the FIA ​​said the changes would be made in such a way as to “avoid affecting the design of the teams’ mechanical components”.

But with designs for the 2023 cars already at an advanced stage, some believe the late nature of the changes will allow bigger teams to react more easily.

On the eve of the summer holidays and the final decision on the changes to the rules, alpine Chief technical officer Pat Fry said he believed F1’s rule changes for 2023 would only help the bigger teams as they could bring in more staff to respond to the problem.

“It’s an engineering resource for us, we obviously have a much smaller aviation division than the three above us, and the one we’re going up against, they’re all bigger than us,” Fry said.

“They might have 20 people who park outside the value limit, sailing or pushing bikes, but they can quite easily pull them back to face the problem and then send them away again.

“So when you have that level of extra power, they have a huge advantage. Delaying the rules is great for them because they know that all the small teams won’t be able to handle it.”

Fry said that while Alpine is “growing and improving,” it remains “reasonable” within cost constraints and without the “massive glut” of staff that has been at other outfits.

Teams have been forced to work under a new spending cap of $145 million per season since last year, forcing some of the bigger squads to shift personnel to other projects.

“It’s a little difficult for us,” Frye said before confirming the rule changes. “The sooner we know [about the changes]so much the better, because if it changes, we’ll be tearing up what we’re already about to do.

“I’m sure every team is working for a few weeks in the wind tunnel anyway to develop a concept car for next year, we certainly are.

“But how much of the work we’ve actually done will be changed by the rule change.”

The FIA ​​also ratified a change to the roll hoop in response to a horrific crash for Zhou Guanyu in July’s British Grand Prix, during which Alfa Romeo had a sheared shaft.

The design of the top of the roll will be changed, while the homologation tests have also been revised ahead of further changes planned in 2024.