The FIA may prohibit Red Bull's ingenious sidepod loophole before the start of the 2027 season.

If there's one aspect that Formula 1 engineers cherish more than a good cup of coffee, it's discovering a small gray area in the regulations and pushing a championship-ready race car right through it. However, as Milton Keynes has recently discovered, the enjoyment doesn't last indefinitely.

As reported by Rosario Giuliana at AutoRacer.it, the FIA has officially taken steps to eliminate a clever aerodynamic innovation that Red Bull Racing introduced earlier this season, meaning the team will need to reevaluate for 2027.

How Scarbs uncovered Red Bull's cable modification

To grasp what the FIA is addressing, one must examine the geometry of the lower sidepod. In general, aerodynamicists aim for razor-sharp edges on the sidepod bodywork to slice through the wake and direct airflow smoothly toward the floor. However, the FIA prefers smooth curves over sharp edges, stipulating a significant minimum radius for those surfaces within the technical regulations. 

This is where Red Bull's design team became a bit crafty. As noted by renowned F1 technical analyst Craig Scarborough (@scarbstech) on Instagram around the time of the British Grand Prix, Red Bull took advantage of a minor loophole in the wording concerning a "floor body stay". 

The team installed a structural cable along the lower edge of the sidepod. Since the regulations allow bodywork situated very close to that support stay to maintain a minimal radius of just 20mm, Red Bull was able to create a much sharper and more aggressive undercut compared to competitors utilizing standard bodywork. 

This tactic first emerged on the RB22 at the Austrian Grand Prix, proving so effective that Audi openly replicated the approach in Baku a few races later. As one fan humorously commented under Scarborough's post, "Fixed rulesets find work for clever minds!"