Mercedes, Ferrari told to change camera mounts

AUSTIN, TEXAS – NOVEMBER 03: Valtteri Bottas driving the (77) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes W10 leads Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB15 and the rest of the field into turn two at the start during the F1 Grand Prix of USA at Circuit of The Americas on November 03, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)

Mercedes and Ferrari have been told to change their nose-mounted camera pods before the first race in Australia because they’re illegal.

Both the W06 and the SF15-T have their camera pods mounted in a vertical fashion where they then curve down into the standard horizontal position specified in the technical regulations.

This has been done for aerodynamic purposes by conditioning the airflow before it interacts with the suspension and the sidepods.

The FIA is unhappy with how they have interpreted the rules, despite racing similar mountings last season. According to the rules, the length shouldn’t be longer than 150mm.

Mercedes and Ferrari have taken this as “150mm horizontally”, but the FIA says this should include the vertical length as well.

Toro Rosso were also told to change their mountings as they ran a similar design to Mercedes and Ferrari at the first test in Jerez. The team responded by the second test and are now running a more conventional version (below).