The FIA recently approved changes to the sporting regulations to allow set-up changes after qualifying if the risk of rain for the race is greater than 40%. The abolition of parc fermé in case of bad weather has been called for for years has finally materialized thanks to a critical issue with the 2026 single-seaters. New cars, in fact, rely heavily on active aerodynamics, the partial deactivation of which in the wet becomes a cause for concern due to the wear of the plank under the floor.
The problem
The sporting regulations establish that, in the event of a wet track or poor grip, the race director can partially deactivate the active aerodynamics. In this scenario the cars can open only the front wing, generating maximum aerodynamic load at the rear. In general, however, the new cars are not configured to support such a load in a straight linewhich is why they would constantly crush to the ground, wearing out the plank board underneath the bottom.
The theme had already emerged from the simulations and could be one of the explanations why the 2026 regulation doubled the consumption allowed for the plankgoing from 1 to 2 mm. To date, the set-up parameters that can be modified in the event of a risk of rain are contained in a document known only to the teams, but it is reasonable to think that this allows them to take the necessary countermeasures. The reopening of the parc fermé, on the other hand, is not the only precaution designed to prevent plank wear problems in the wet.
Pirelli’s work
During an interview granted to FormulaPassion last August, Mario Isola, director of Pirelli Motorsport at the time, already spoke about the issue: “Recently the issue of ground clearance has been addressed. The cars were designed with this straight-line mode, so on the straight they travel with little aerodynamic load and rise from the ground, while, if the system is closed, they are crushed to the ground, risking touching the asphalt.” As revealed by Isola, Pirelli has developed the new wet range in such a way as to give more vertical support, counteracting the thrust of the extra aerodynamic load released with closed wings in the rain: “By working together with them, we modified the intermediate and extreme wet tyresstiffening them so that even in the maximum aerodynamic load configuration the tire deforms a little less, trying to recover something that helps the car not to lower too much”.
