Towards stricter rules on exhaust systems in 2013?

The FIA has decided to ban the use of blown diffusers from 2012, tightening the rules on exhaust positions, which must now point upwards. However, teams have succeeded in finding workarounds to continue blowing exhaust gases onto the diffuser to maintain increased downforce.

Even though the FIA hoped to eradicate blowing with these new rules, Charlie Whiting acknowledges in an interview with the FIA’s magazine InMotion that it is a process that will take time: “We all know that our new rule cannot be 100% effective. It’s a classic case of not being able to unlearn things once they’ve been invented. Engineers are well aware of the benefits (of blown exhausts) and know there’s still development to be done in this area. We can’t just erase the engineers’ memories like a computer, can we?”

The teams are always pushing the limits regarding regulations, and it will be the same for exhausts to achieve maximum performance according to him: However, these systems will not be as effective as last year. The rule applies only to the last 100 millimeters of the exhausts, which must be pointed upwards at an angle between 10 and 30 degrees. I am quite certain they will all be closer to 10 than 30 degrees.

Even if the new rules will reduce the gain from blown diffusers, a tightening of the regulations might be necessary for the 2013 season according to Whiting: «We have combined these rules on exhausts with other constraints on engine mappings, and this will make it more difficult to exploit the exhaust gases in the same way as last year. We are aware that they will do everything to direct the exhaust gases towards this area (the diffuser). I think this will only represent 20% of what they had before. I suspect that it will be necessary to go further for 2013.»

This could be more prominently translated directly into the operation of the engine through the ECU: « We incorporate all these constraints into the code of our Electronic Control Unit (ECU), so they cannot achieve this outside of it. The ECU and its software have been approved by the FIA. Generally, we want them to stop exploiting the exhaust gases when the driver is not accelerating. »

Another point of contention between the teams in 2011 was the flexible front wings. Charlie Whiting stated that for 2012, the FIA had tightened the rules on this point because the teams had gone too far: “By introducing a new test, we effectively halved the permitted deformation. With a load of 1000 Newtons, a deformation of 20 millimeters was allowed. As a result, some built wing after wing so that they would be tested and could deform by 19.9 millimeters. We were fed up with this. 20 millimeters was a starting point. But we saw extreme deformations on the track.”

The FIA could therefore also tighten the regulations on wing flexibility if things get out of hand again: « We are allowed to implement new deformation tests if we feel that our guidelines were not followed in the way we expected. »