Analysis: Understanding Honda's flat floor troubles

The four Hondas included the three factory cars driven by Rob Huff, Tiago Monteiro and Norbert Michelisz, as well as the privateer entry of Ferenc Ficza, which is run by Zengo Motorsport.

It soon became clear that the component in question was the flat floor of the Civic, and that the FIA technical delegate, Manuel Leal, was not comfortable that the part met the championship's stringent technical regulations (Super 2000 TC1).

What exactly is wrong with it?

The FIA don't communicate any further beyond matter of fact, and so all that's been said from the motorsport governing body is that the part does not match the one presented at homologation inspection at the start of the season.

Honda and its racing programme partner JAS Motorsport are unsurprisingly cautious to communicate details about the issue, especially while the investigation is ongoing, but informed paddock talk points to the flat floors of the car having been designed to help carry and distribute the compensation weight that the team have been allocated since the third event of the season.

This would also explain why no issues were picked up in the first two weekends of the season in France and Slovakia, where Honda didn't carry any compensation weight.

What happened in Hungary? Didn't the stewards declare it legal?

Yes and no. In Hungary, the stewards issued a decision confirming that they found the flat floor of the Honda as to be in compliance with the current regulations, with no further action to be taken.

However, what wasn't clear was that this communication was subject to a further investigation, which would take place away from the track by the FIA technical delegate to gather more information until a more informed decision could be made.

The FIA then included a line on the race results, saying the results from the races would remain provisional subject to the conclusion of the further investigation concerning the Hondas' flat floors.

The governing body therefore convened a meeting with the stewards of the Nurburgring weekend on Thursday evening, with representatives from Honda, JAS Motorsport and Zengo Motorsport with the stewards and the technical delegate to make a final decision, which was then published that night.

The FIA stewards of the weekend, a different group to the Hungary weekend, ruled that the Honda cars were illegal during the Hungarian and Moroccan rounds of the championship and that they should be excluded from both events.

Is carrying weight in the flat floor illegal?

It's exactly that which is the debate, and the one is completely down to interpretation of the technical regulations.

Honda is adamant that it has been fully open and engaged with the FIA throughout the entire process, and is confident that its interpretation of the regulations is perfectly legal - hence it has challenged the decision of the FIA stewards.

Isn't this all just done to help Citroen out?

Far from it. In fact, one of the catalysts for Citroen leaving the championship has been the lack of competition that the French manufacturer has had during their first two seasons in the championship.

As much as many fans find one manufacturer dominating a championship a dull prospect, the manufacturers themselves dislike that situation, and they also welcome competition.

Although the season is still long, it's still the case that the French manufacturer has the best car on the grid and that the French marque is more than likely to win its third championship in its final season in the WTCC - even if the gap between it and Honda has closed considerably.

As a result, the outcome of a race weekend is no longer as predictable as it has been in recent years, and so that has improved the show.

So, hasn't the FIA basically ruined the championship fight?

There's no question that the potential result of Honda being excluded from two race weekends will spoil the championship battle we've seen so far this season. No-one would feel that the Japanese manufacturer's exclusion will benefit the championship from an entertainment perspective.

That said, the FIA has a job to do, and it's clear the FIA technical delegate and the stewards of the Race of Germany weekend have come to the conclusion that Honda has not interpreted the technical regulations correctly.

It will therefore set an important precedent to the other teams that what Honda has done is not how the regulations should be interpreted. However, should of course there be some ambiguity, Honda would expect to be reinstated and either the technical regulations reworded or the team's interpretation be allowed to stand.

It's also very important to note that the FIA has clearly found no malice or evidence of blatant cheating on behalf of Honda, which can be interpreted from the scale of the penalty - which doesn't include any financial sanctions, bans or suspended bans from future rounds of the championship, and only excludes them from the results of the two races in question.

How were the cars found legal during the Nurburgring weekend?

The team fitted flat floors of a previous specification (most likely from France and Slovakia) to the cars and so they passed scrutineering after qualifying and Saturday's two races without any issue.

Isn't that an admission of guilt?

It's probably better read as a wise precaution on behalf of the manufacturer. Should the worst happen and the flat floor is still found to be illegal, then they only lose the points from two race meetings instead of up to five.

What will happen now?

Honda has made a statement announcing its intention to take the case to the FIA International Court of Appeal, where a panel will be convened to listen to the case put forward by the FIA's technical delegate as well as representatives of the teams affected.

Until this time, all results from the Hungary and Slovakia weekends will stand, albeit provisionally, and the championship points will also be unchanged (see below).

The Court of Appeal is likely to take place in over a month's time, which will mean at least a further two race meetings (Russia and Portugal) will have taken place.

The Court of Appeal will make a final ruling on the flat floor of Honda's legality, where they could impose the decision of the stewards of the Race of Germany.

They could also choose to reduce or increase the sentence, or even uphold Honda's appeal, in which case the results of Hungary and Morocco would become final and Honda cleared of wrongdoing.

Points standings:

Provisional points standings				If Honda is excluded
1	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroen	193	1	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroen	209
2	Tiago Monteiro	Honda	124	2	Mehdi Bennani	Citroen	119
3	Rob Huff	Honda	122	3	Tom Chilton	Citroen	97
4	Norbert Michelisz	Honda	120	4	Yvan Muller	Citroen	92
5	Mehdi Bennani	Citroen	103	5	Norbert Michelisz	Honda	87
6	Yvan Muller	Citroen	83	6	Tiago Monteiro	Honda	77
7	Tom Chilton	Citroen	78	7	Rob Huff	Honda	73
8	Nicky Catsburg	Lada	62	8	Nicky Catsburg	Lada	62