Category Archives: F1

In addition to ratifying the 2016 calendar the World Motor Sport Council has agreed on several other “housekeeping” measures.

Among them is an attempt to address the issue of engine noise.

The governing body summarises them as follows: “Cars must now comply with all cockpit and safety equipment requirements during testing; such as the position of the driver’s head, all headrest padding, cockpit padding and ease of driver egress.

“Sporting Regulations regarding track limits have been clarified and specify that drivers “must make every reasonable effort to use the track at all times and may not deliberately leave the track without a justifiable reason”. Penalties will still be allocated based on whether a driver is judged to have gained an advantage.

“The WMSC approved the proposal of the F1 Commission regarding regulations for power unit and gearbox changes. Such penalties prior to qualifying will be applied based on the time of use. For changes made after qualifying, preference will be given to the driver whose team first informed the technical delegate that a change will occur.

“Any driver who causes a start to be aborted, even if he is then able to start the extra formation lap, will be required to start the race from the pit lane. The same process will be applied to a re-start from a race suspension where drivers have been brought to the pit lane.

“The WMSC confirmed a number of clarifications were made to aerodynamic testing restrictions for wind tunnel use and CFD, specifically focusing on reporting and inspection processes for these development tools.

“For 2016, all cars must have a separate exhaust wastegate tailpipe through which all and only wastegate exhaust gases must pass. This measure has been undertaken to increase the noise of the cars and will not have any significant effect on power or emissions.

“For 2017, on board cameras on stalks on the nose of cars will be prohibited.”

McLaren boss Ron Dennis says that Fernando Alonso’s radio comments during the Japanese GP resulted from frustration – but added that he regarded it as lacking “professionalism.”

Alonso likened the Honda power unit to a GP2 engine after he struggled to fight with rivals at Suzuka.

“That is just frustration,” said Dennis of Alonso’s comments. “Anything that is coming out of our drivers at the moment has its origins in frustration and disappointment and demotivation. We are all demotivated. I still cannot understand why everyone doesn’t appreciate the simple fact that you are not going to win the world championship if you have a second string engine. It is just not going to happen.

“And therefore we have to go through the pain, go through this learning curve and get a competitive engine. That is not a derogatory comment against Honda. Honda had the president of company, the president of R&D, the president of Honda Motor Company, all of these people are here totally committed.

“They understand what has to be done, and of course they are resourcing and increasing resources and putting more money and effort in to it and we will get there. It is just a bit painful at the moment. But we will get there.”

Pressed on Alonso’s comments he said: “I am not going to condone those sorts of things, because it doesn’t show the professionalism that I would like all our drivers to show, but he is in the car, he is frustrated and of course his exposure to the technical staff, maybe it was not a particularly constructive way to communicate with everyone at Honda.

“But the way for me to deal with drivers is either through the appropriate management channels which is Eric or in certain circumstances myself. Whatever I choose to do, or however it is done, it remains a team matter, not a matter for the media.”

Bernie Ecclestone could now be looking at starting the season two weeks earlier than originally planned, sources have indicated – potentially leaving teams with a massive logistical headache as they prepare their new cars.

Ecclestone had been considering moving the Australian GP from the currently scheduled April 3 to March 27. However, that is the Easter weekend it, and it seems likely that the Melbourne organisers found it unacceptable given that many locals would be out of town – affecting both spectator numbers and staffing.

Ecclestone may have been left with no choice but to go back a further week to March 20. It’s understood that the race will be a standalone event, with nothing following on the Easter weekend. It remains to be seen what other events Ecclestone is shuffling around at that end of the season.

Sources indicate that he has not moved Malaysia back to the start of the year, as the organisers preferred a late season date. Instead it’s understood that he has split Singapore and Malaysia by a week, moving the latter event from September 25 to October 2 so that it becomes a back-to-back event with Japan.

Ecclestone has also been trying to create a three-week summer break, and it’s believed that he has also achieved that by moving European races around.

If March 20 is confirmed as the first race teams will have to do some serious reorganising. At the moment they all have carefully planned schedules of R&D, car build, crash testing and spare manufacturing with a view to a first test in Barcelona on March 1, followed by Friday practice in Australia some 31 days later.

It’s inevitable that the first and second tests will both have to be brought forward, and thus teams will have to adjust their schedules to be ready in time.

“It’s not ideal,” said one team insider. “Even at this stage we will have to make compromises to reach that deadline. Production times are the biggest challenge. We’re planning to build cars for the first tests then go to the first race the first weekend in April, so we’re scheduling production runs to have spares ready for that time. So we’ll probably go to Australia with fewer spares than we’d be hoping to have. A one-week gap after it will give us time to catch up.”