Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur believes changes to front wing flexibility tests at the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix could be a "gamechanger" for all 10 Formula 1 teams.
After flexing bodywork became a point of contention within the sport last year, the FIA confirmed in January it would introduce more stringent load tests on front wings from the ninth round of the season in Spain.
Engineering a degree of flexibility into wings when they are under aerodynamic load has the potential to offer performance gains, either by reducing drag at high speed or changing the aerodynamic balance of the car between low-speed and high-speed corners.
The stricter static tests conducted by the FIA this weekend in Spain are expected to require all teams to modify their front wings, and Vasseur believes that could result in changes in the relative performance of cars.
"I think Barcelona is on the calendar of everybody in the paddock with the new regulation for the front wing," Vasseur said last weekend in Monaco.
"At least we are working on it for ages now and this can be a gamechanger for everybody, because we don't know the impact on every single team of the new regulation.
"We'll stick to this [at Barcelona], be focused on this, to have the better exploitation of the new front wing."
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff suggested Ferrari was exploiting flexible front wings the least this year, but said it was still unclear if any team would stand to gain relative to its competitors from the stricter tests.
"I think what we have seen is that Ferrari was probably most conservative on flexi-wings," Wolff said. "What it's going to do on the pecking order is something we need to look at.
"I'm not sure it will [change the order], but another angle of curiosity and I don't know how it's going to go."
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes the new tests will impact all teams, but said it was hard to predict whether it would bring about a change in the competitive order.
"We now head back to some higher speed circuits, and of course the front wing is essentially subject to a regulation change, and maybe that will have zero impact on the running order but it's a change and it'll affect all teams," Horner said.
"Maybe neutrally, but there will be an impact from it. What we don't know is how it'll affect [each team]. It's a significant change, and so of course there'll be some effect."