Max Verstappen opts for diplomacy as new footage suggests that the McLaren rear wing is still flexing.
Asked about the dubious rear wing on the Woking cars last year, the Dutchman broke the newly imposed rules on swearing and was promptly sent to Rwanda to carry out some community service as punishment.
For its part, the FIA has remained on the case issuing a new Technical Directive ahead of the season opener which saw the load bearing test made stricter in time for China and with a further revision due in Spain.
Since then the FIA has insisted that all cars are fully legal.
However, post-Suzuka video footage appeared online which appears to show the rear wing on one of the McLarens flexing. For comparison purposes the rear wing on the Red Bull is also shown but it is not flexing.
During his press conference with members of the Dutch media, Verstappen was asked about the footage, and this time he opted for the diplomatic approach.
"I'm not disappointed in that," he said. "Everyone is trying to do their best and some people read the regulations a bit differently.
"I don't make the rules," he added, "and I'm not the one enforcing them either.
"It's up to the FIA to decide what is allowed", he suggested, though, in case it has escaped his notice, the sport's governing body has other things on its mind right now.
It's understood the FIA is aware of the footage but has thus far refused to comments. However, no doubt rival teams might not be as diplomatic as Verstappen.
Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri has said that the crack down on flexing will not compromise McLaren's title hopes.
"I'm pretty confident we'll be strong all year," said the Australian, when asked about the upcoming changes to the regulations in Spain. "I don't think it'll change too much.
"I've not spoken to the team about it massively in all honestly, which probably tells you enough about that," he added. "Let's see when we get to Spain, but we've still got a lot of races until then. I think we'll be a strong team all year."
Flexing aside, Piastri is taking nothing for granted, insisting that the McLaren is not the dominant force many believe it to be.
"We have the quickest car at the moment, but our advantage is not enough to be careless and laid back and not execute," he said. "We saw Melbourne was a very strong weekend for us, but we also got the most out of the car. China and Japan have both showed that it doesn't take much to go wrong for us to not be at the front.
"We have an advantage in the race, for sure; I think qualifying you have to still be on it because the gap is not much. And as we saw in Japan, Max put in a good performance, and it was enough to be better than us. That's just another demonstration that it's going to be tight the whole year."
At a time there in constant talk about how difficult the Red Bull is to drive, Piastri insists that the McLaren is no walk in the park.
"It's not a completely different car to what we had last season, there's a lot of ideas and philosophies that are the same," he said. "Yes, it's been tricky to get all the lap time out of it in every situation, and I think we've seen that.
"But still, if I had to pick out of all ten cars on the grid right now, I'd still pretty happily be choosing ours."
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