Ferrari removed its new halo mini wings over Formula 1's Chinese Grand Prix weekend in the wake of discussions with the FIA, The Race has learned.
While the new design had run in practice and passed scrutineering for the sprint element at Shanghai, it was taken off the cars on Saturday.
This followed questions from the governing body on Ferrari's regulatory interpretation that left the squad feeling it was not worth the distraction of debating it further in China or the risk of any post-race trouble if the FIA took a stance against it or a rival lodged a protest.
Talks are now set to continue about getting definitive legality clarity on the matter before Ferrari makes a call on whether the winglets return at a future race.
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Towards the front of the car, Ferrari also fitted two small winglets on either side of the central halo mount.
It said that the winglet had been added to the central aero pillar as a "minor update".
The team added in its official FIA submissions: "Not event specific, it simply returns a small aerodynamic load benefit."
The design of the winglets pointed to them being used as a means of channelling airflow better around the cockpit to help tidy up things downstream for potential downforce and efficiency benefits.
While Ferrari decided against running its new rear wing after practice because it felt that it needed more understanding of it, the team happily committed to the halo wings for the sprint event because of the added benefit they brought.
However, the winglets were interestingly removed between the Saturday sprint and main qualifying – which meant under parc ferme's rules that they were not going to be taken into the grand prix itself.
This design was banned after that Barcelona race because the FIA felt that Ferrari was using mounts in a way intended to deliver extra aerodynamic performance.
While the future of the halo wings is uncertain, Ferrari's flip flop wing is set to return at the Japanese Grand Prix, with team principal Fred Vasseur saying that more mileage should give Ferrari more confidence in the wing being good enough to race.
"If we want to put mileage on the parts, we need to do FP1," he said. "But we'll do it again probably next week [in Japan].
"[If] reliability will be OK, and the mileage will be OK. That we'll introduce it for the weekend."