There has been very little comment on the FIA's ratification of the engine rules for 2008 to 2017. Either this is because everyone is still trying to cope with the blatant favoritism of the ruling on the Renault case (which would make the FIA's timing perfect, slipping in the new rules while no-one was watching) or because the rules are so opposed to the ethos of F1 that it is difficult to know where to start. I suspect the latter, since it was the problem that confronted me as soon as I read PitPass's article on the subject.
The ten year freeze on engines is well known now and plenty has been said on the subject before. But the accompanying regulations are a testament to the FIA's preference for interference in team matters rather than tackling a problem at its roots. Instead of limiting the influence of aerodynamics by simple means such as extending the flat bottom to the nose of the car or by banning winglets and bargeboards, the FIA want to specify how many wind tunnels can be used, for how long, with what models and under what conditions.
Since the justification for these measures is cost saving, should not the FIA consider the fact that many of the teams have been using two wind tunnels for some time and the money has already been spent therefore? And how are the regulations to be policed? Will every team have to accept inspectors into its facilities to ensure that none of the specifications are exceeded at any time? Anything less is so open to abuse that it is laughable.
BMW might be grinning at this point, having opted for a super computer rather than an extra wind tunnel, but they will be deflated when they get to the later regulations that limit the amount of time, effort and personnel that can be invested in CFD computer systems. And that is not all. On the way are more limits to be imposed on rig testing, design and manufacture, suspension and brakes, hydraulics, bodywork, weight distribution (!), circuit testing and number of personnel at races.
Max Mosley has said that he wants a spec formula and these regulations are yet another step on the road to such an anathema to the ethos of the sport. Are none of the FIA delegates sufficiently in touch with F1 to understand that this is destroying the sport's essential foundation? There is a reason for there being two championships, a driver's and a constructor's; they reflect the fact that F1 is a competition between drivers and between designers. With regulations as restrictive as the FIA have happily ratified, the designers' aspect of the competition becomes reduced to almost zero.
And I am reduced to meaningless spluttering in my indignation at the idiocy of these regulations. They have been formulated by people with no love for the sport, no understanding of its roots, no vision for the future. It does not matter that the rules are completely unenforceable, that they insist the teams become mere manufacturers of pre-set components, that creativity and innovation is stifled; what has become clear is that the FIA is unable to govern the sport in a sane and responsible way. Suggestions and advice have been available to the delegates in abundance but they have ignored it all and opted instead for the most unworkable solutions possible to imagine.
If we think F1 has too many legal tussles at the moment, we have not seen anything yet. Once these regulations come into force, the opportunities for cheating will become so extensive that barely a race will pass without some new accusation flying from one team to another. There will have to be armies of inspectors looking over the engineers' shoulders at every moment to see that they do not exceed the specifications. There'll be no more overtime for engineers, although the snoop industry should enter a golden age of jobs for everyone.
Why men like Ron Dennis and Frank Williams would even wish to continue in a sport headed down such a road, I do not know. They have known what it was to turn out a car that could beat everything else, to introduce innovation that gave advantage for a time (until copied by everyone else), to have given drivers the opportunity to compete at the highest level of motor sport. How can they bear to watch the sport being destroyed by those who understand nothing of it?
Maybe it really is time for a breakaway series to be started.
The ten year freeze on engines is well known now and plenty has been said on the subject before. But the accompanying regulations are a testament to the FIA's preference for interference in team matters rather than tackling a problem at its roots. Instead of limiting the influence of aerodynamics by simple means such as extending the flat bottom to the nose of the car or by banning winglets and bargeboards, the FIA want to specify how many wind tunnels can be used, for how long, with what models and under what conditions.
Since the justification for these measures is cost saving, should not the FIA consider the fact that many of the teams have been using two wind tunnels for some time and the money has already been spent therefore? And how are the regulations to be policed? Will every team have to accept inspectors into its facilities to ensure that none of the specifications are exceeded at any time? Anything less is so open to abuse that it is laughable.
BMW might be grinning at this point, having opted for a super computer rather than an extra wind tunnel, but they will be deflated when they get to the later regulations that limit the amount of time, effort and personnel that can be invested in CFD computer systems. And that is not all. On the way are more limits to be imposed on rig testing, design and manufacture, suspension and brakes, hydraulics, bodywork, weight distribution (!), circuit testing and number of personnel at races.
Max Mosley has said that he wants a spec formula and these regulations are yet another step on the road to such an anathema to the ethos of the sport. Are none of the FIA delegates sufficiently in touch with F1 to understand that this is destroying the sport's essential foundation? There is a reason for there being two championships, a driver's and a constructor's; they reflect the fact that F1 is a competition between drivers and between designers. With regulations as restrictive as the FIA have happily ratified, the designers' aspect of the competition becomes reduced to almost zero.
And I am reduced to meaningless spluttering in my indignation at the idiocy of these regulations. They have been formulated by people with no love for the sport, no understanding of its roots, no vision for the future. It does not matter that the rules are completely unenforceable, that they insist the teams become mere manufacturers of pre-set components, that creativity and innovation is stifled; what has become clear is that the FIA is unable to govern the sport in a sane and responsible way. Suggestions and advice have been available to the delegates in abundance but they have ignored it all and opted instead for the most unworkable solutions possible to imagine.
If we think F1 has too many legal tussles at the moment, we have not seen anything yet. Once these regulations come into force, the opportunities for cheating will become so extensive that barely a race will pass without some new accusation flying from one team to another. There will have to be armies of inspectors looking over the engineers' shoulders at every moment to see that they do not exceed the specifications. There'll be no more overtime for engineers, although the snoop industry should enter a golden age of jobs for everyone.
Why men like Ron Dennis and Frank Williams would even wish to continue in a sport headed down such a road, I do not know. They have known what it was to turn out a car that could beat everything else, to introduce innovation that gave advantage for a time (until copied by everyone else), to have given drivers the opportunity to compete at the highest level of motor sport. How can they bear to watch the sport being destroyed by those who understand nothing of it?
Maybe it really is time for a breakaway series to be started.