FIA’s Purnell wants more rule changes

The FIA’s technical consultant Tony Purnell believes that the major rule changes introduced in Formula 1 this season have not gone nearly far enough to improve the spectacle.

The governing body had hoped that the combination of slick tyres, a big reduction in downforce, adjustable front wing flaps and Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems would make overtaking much more feasible than in recent years.

But although cars are now able to follow each other a little more closely than in the past due to a reduced aerodynamic wake, passing moves have not been noticeably more frequent.

Asked in an interview with F1 Racing if the new regulations had been a success, Purnell said: “No, not really. If we’re going to give the fans what they want, we’ve got to take another step.”

The changes to the aerodynamic regulations were based on the recommendations of an FIA task force, the Overtaking Working Group, comprising engineering chiefs Pat Symonds of Renault, Rory Byrne of Ferrari and Paddy Lowe of McLaren.

The OWG had aimed to slash downforce to 50% of 2008 levels, but the teams’ ingenuity in clawing it back has resulted in a much more modest reduction – not least because of the loophole in the regulations that spawned the controversial twin-diffuser designs pioneered by Brawn, Toyota and Williams.

KERS has also proved a mixed blessing in terms of overtaking – facilitating moves off the start line but otherwise primarily used as a defensive tool – while the adjustable front wing flaps and more sharply differentiated tyre compounds have had only a marginal impact.

Purnell is convinced that aerodynamics remain at the root of the problem and, while he reckons this year’s rules have been a step in the right direction, he says further measures are required to reduce downforce and turbulence more effectively.

“It happens again and again that you make rules to rid the cars of downforce and, nine months later, it pops back up again,” he observed.

“The new rules have been a worthwhile step in improving these things.

“The F1 community is desperately conservative, and with good cause, because they feel the cars are very popular so don’t want to mess things up.

“The way to tackle the problem is step by step.

“What’s good is that, over the past year, more thought has gone into this problem than before.”

Critics often object that fundamental rule changes penalise smaller, less well-funded teams, but Purnell doesn’t think that argument holds water.

“If you don’t change the rules, the people with the most money should always win,” he said.

“If you throw in a big rules change, then people with sufficient finance and the really clever engineers come up with the best car for a while.

“Stability isn’t cheap, it’s less risky.”

Source: ITV