According to AUTOSPORT, F1 is considering a host of changes that could be used to control the cost of participating in the sport. The FIA had announced that they were abandoning the cost-cap concept as it couldn’t appease all the teams but would instead use its newly minted F1 Strategy Group to devise regulatory oversight that would, in effect, lower costs.
AS revealed that those ideas may be as follows:
2015
Tyre blanket ban
Fuel system simplification
Brake duct simplification
Front wing simplification
Gearbox usage flow brought in line with engine life
Increase in curfew
Ban on front and rear interconnected suspension
2016
Standard front impact structure
Standard rear impact structure
Standard final drive system
Standard steering rack
2017
FIA standard active suspension
Move to 18-inch wheel rims
Things look relatively docile until you get to 2016 and 2017 when the word “Standard” is used. The series is a constructor’s series and prides itself on being non-spec so the use of standards will raise eyebrows. In typical F1 pragmatism, standards will be just fine if it limits costs so the survival of small teams can be maintained.
The article goes on to quote Mercedes chief Toto Wolff:
“It doesn’t make sense to go against two or three of the big teams just for the sake of the principal of a cost cap, so I think it’s worth following up in a way everybody can do.
“This is why going through the sporting or technical regulations is probably the right way to go. We’ve seen in the past that it worked.”
Perhaps but one supposes the small teams will be fine with the “Standard” idea as long as it doesn’t start to impact theit competitive performance as well.
