Sir Frank Williams has said that recent accusations made by Flavio Briatore regarding exploitation of the engine freeze rules are unfounded.Flavio felt that certain teams had made significant advancements in their engine development even though there is a freeze or moratorium on engine development for the 2008 season.
Sir Frank feels that these accusations are anecdotal at best and explains why he thinks the advancements are within regulations but are pressing the limits of the rule of law mandated by the FIA. Sir Frank tells Autosport:
“It is a sensitive subject,” admitted Williams. “This is purely anecdotal, second or even third hand, but there is a story that one of the Red Bull drivers jumped out of his Renault car and drove the Ferrari car and said, ‘bloody hell!’ True or false, I don’t know. And that is not to point the figure at Ferrari.
“How it works is that you blueprint your engine when you first run it, you send the blueprint in and the FIA keep it. Then, if halfway through (the season) your piston rings are causing you trouble and you’ve broken so many, you can request, with evidence, that you are in trouble and the FIA will let you change the piston ring, or this or that.
“I think some people are braver than others, saying, ‘this has gone wrong and I need to change it.’ No one is cheating, but some people are better at bending the rules and knowing where to stop bending, than people who would never dream of even trying to squeeze something.”
