Since the new rules were announced, there has been speculation about the possibility that a team will find the key and repeat what Brawn GP did; owned by Ross Brawn , in the 2009 Formula 1 season.
That year, Brawn GP introduced the controversial double diffuser and took a huge lead in the early part of the season which eventually became Jenson Button’s title.
Brawn said he could not guarantee that loopholes had not been left in the new regulations, but remained confident that “robust” regulations had made that less likely.
“They don’t know anything about silver bullets,” Brawn said. “If we knew where the silver bullet [the potential advantage] was, we would have stopped it,” he said.
“There is no guarantee that something will happen that we have not foreseen. And I think it does happen, we will not see it in the tests in Barcelona and probably, someone will let F1 know.”
“But actually I don’t think that’s the case, because the regulations are pretty solid. But you can never be sure.”
Brawn added that the FIA’s new governance system, which does not require unanimity among teams to ban technical innovations, will also help.
Teams now know that their R&D investment could be scuppered if it is subsequently blocked for pursuing an idea without clearing it up with the FIA.
Ross Brawn, director de Brawn GP
“That’s part of the reason the system of government has changed,” Brawn said. “And it hasn’t changed just to be able to change the rules on short notice, it’s been done because teams know you can change the rules on short notice.”
“So it’s much more likely that they want to be comfortable with their ideas or concepts before they get them into the car and out on the track.”
“It’s a circular thing. If you know that eight teams, the FIA and F1 can stop you from doing something if they think it’s wrong, then you’re a little bit more cautious about doing it, knowing that that could be a problem. So I think governance It’s something that also gives another layer of protection.”
The FIA’s head of single-seater affairs, Nikolas Tombazis , stressed that he and his engineers are working closely with the teams and, in effect, addressing any potential controversies before the new cars reach the opening weekend of racing.
“Obviously some cars are already running,” Tombazis said. “And we are also running a process with the teams where we have individual sessions with them to follow up on their legality so that we can try to avoid any unpleasant surprises in the first race.
“This is also a process. We have seen some surprises here and there, some areas where the cars are a bit more different from each other than we expected, and where the engineers have applied their innovative skills to find a solution.”
“So I think you’re going to see a lot more differences than maybe we initially expected. I don’t think there’s any big red flags so far.”
“It’s been relatively quiet, within what we think is a completely fair interpretation of the rules. We haven’t seen anything equivalent to a double diffuser, or anything like that.”
Alex Albon, Williams FW44
He added: “In the checks with each team individually, we literally went through the whole car, from the nose to the end of the rear.
“And the process of going through all the rules and verifying everything takes quite a few hours, it takes about five or six hours to go one by one and make sure everyone complies with everything.”
“So we don’t focus on one area of the car, we really check everything to make sure every aspect has been formed correctly.”
