Why the only solution to end cheating in Formula 1 is for a vampire to come.

The fight against doping has always been a headache for sports regulatory bodies. The cheaters were always ahead of the regulator . With each new test, they had some trick planned to circumvent it. In the end, the only effective solution was the presence of the controversial vampire , who can carry out surprise tests at any time. A similar solution would be necessary in Formula 1.

After what was seen during the first day of free practice for the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona , ​​the new wing flex controls haven't brought anything new. It's known (just look at the on-board cameras) that many of the cars' aerodynamic components flex, but if they pass the controls, the marshals have to keep their mouths shut and can't penalize cars that, strictly speaking, don't comply with the regulations.

Lewis Hamilton eloquently put his finger on the sore spot: "Ultimately, flexible wings are like a band-aid for poorly designed technical regulations." The British driver justified this remedy for a problem with the current generation of single-seaters, which are very understeering in slow corners and very oversteering in fast corners . And, when the engineers are on their toes, you look for other means to achieve the levels of grip that the wings before the new controls allowed you.

The underlying problem is that, to avoid arbitrariness, the regulations must clearly state the method by which any regulation will be measured . This, as a guiding principle, is all very well, but in the hands of a brilliant engineer, it's a breeding ground for the spirit of the regulations to explode. It has always been said that Adrian Newey never reads technical regulations to find out what can and can't be done, but rather how his creativity will be monitored .

The Red Bull case

You'll remember, for example, last year when Red Bull and Max Verstappen saw their overwhelming early-season lead melt away like a sugar cube almost from one race to the next. It was clear that a tip-off had reached Red Bull headquarters in Milton Keynes that the team was being watched and that they'd better get the crime out of the way as quickly as possible. We'll never know exactly whether the illegality lay in the asymmetric braking system, but it's clear that Red Bull escaped punishment because they were duly warned in time.

The defense that Red Bull had never used such a system was based on the fact that the decline in competitiveness of Max Verstappen 's car occurred well before the Hungarian Grand Prix , which is when specific controls were introduced to monitor this alleged violation. But this, far from disproving it, actually confirms it when you look at how things actually work behind the scenes. As with any crime, the sooner you cover the tracks of your violations, the harder it is for the investigator to gather evidence against you . Does this cat-and-mouse chase sound like the fight against doping?

Therefore, the FIA ​​(International Automobile Federation) faces two difficult problems to solve: on the one hand, if there are no surprise controls, you'll never catch the offender unaware. Being alerted to the entry of new regulations, everyone tries to adapt their tricks to the new methods of measurement . On the other hand, leaks emerging from both within the FIA ​​itself and from the teams make it even more difficult to catch offenders.

It's important to keep in mind that this racing world is very small, and eventually everyone knows each other. The biggest intellectual property thefts occur in the pubs of the Milton Keynes Valley between beers after a bad day at the office. Having the largest number of suppliers and the global talent pool at your fingertips has been the historical reason for British dominance in this sport. But this advantage has always been hampered by information and talent leaks .

But the FIA ​​hasn't historically been spared from this problem either. Naturally, most of its technical staff have a Formula 1 background and, consequently, many friends in the paddock . The regulatory body has always struggled to retain its technical staff , who have always seen them more as a temporary stay or a springboard to greater aspirations. And that's logical. When a team signs a former FIA member, it's signing someone with insider information.

For this reason, unless the FIA ​​is able to create an independent and stable body of vampires similar to WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency), it will have a tough time catching teams red-handed for regulatory violations. It's an extremely difficult task to regulate, and even more so to implement, but what happened in Barcelona demonstrates the futility of current controls .