The McLaren and Mercedes GP teams have asked the governing body to clarify their position on the current 'flexible' front wing issue, before they take the plunge into expensive development programmes of their own.
The two wing designs on the Red Bull and Ferrari cars was deemed legal after scrutineering at the German Grand Prix last weekend, but new video footage at the Hungarian GP weekend seem to show the wings flexing significantly at speed.
McLaren's team boss Martin Whitmarsh has already admitted that his team are struggling to work out precisely how the wings of their rivals are working, and new reports now suggest that the wings utilise a new floor design on the cars to help to raise and lower the wings.
In an interview with Autosport, Mercedes boss Ross Brawn confirmed that his team and McLaren had requested clarification from the FIA regarding the wings, but insists that rather than looking for the devices to be banned, they are simply ensuring the wings will remain legal before they develop their own versions.
"We know the whole area of stiffness is difficult and tests are devised to ensure that we are all in the same region," Brawn rambled.
"I think observation on the videos and stills show that Red Bull is the prime case, but Ferrari partially, has managed to set their cars up to run the front wings a lot lower to the ground than perhaps ourselves or McLaren have been able to achieve.
"I think probably what we are asking is, before we all go off and have a massive development programme, is Charlie [Whiting, FIA race director] going to change the rules before we get there?"
He added: "When it is demonstrated to you, you look at all the ways that you can achieve it and I think for the latter part of this year, and next year, we will all be doing the same.
"We just want to make sure that Charlie is comfortable with it and is not going to change the rules when we get there, because it will be an awful waste of effort."
McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh, who pointedly told the BBC after qualifying that Lewis Hamilton's fifth place on the grid made him 'first of the fixed wings', insists that he and his team will not protest their rivals.
"Flexi wings - do I think they are right in F1 to be flexing to that extent? No I don't," he ranted, "But I am not the rule maker or the rule interpreter, so I think we are asking for clarification on what is permissible here.
"Once we have that clarification, then we are able to push to do whatever seems to be allowed. I hope the clarification really does not allow the endplates to continue to touch the ground. There are endplates out there whose metallic skids are touching the ground, which are meant to be way off the ground."
He added: "Clearly no wing can be infinitely rigid, but there are limits to which they should be allowed to flex.
"If you try to explain what is happening, either you can explain it by hugely raked cars - but if you do simple geometry then the ride height would be over 100mm and there is no evidence of that being the case.
"Or you do it by some means of the outer edge of the wings lowering down by more than we expect. Or the front of the floor is moving up further than we expect, because that is another part of bodywork that is intended to be rigidly attached.
"In truth we don't understand it and maybe there is another way but I, as a fairly simple engineer, can't think of anything other than those three explanations. If there is another one then I will be happy to hear it. It is surprising."
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