Ten teams would approve the return to the old regulations

Rarely has a qualifying session been as tense as the one held today at the Silverstone circuit, just minutes after an emergency summit meeting was called by Charlie Whiting to put an end to the chaos that emerged from the differences in applying the new regulation restricting the use of blown diffusers. Indeed, in order to address the reliability issues raised by Mercedes and Renault, the International Automobile Federation had granted each of them “prerogatives,” which were publicly thrown back and forth between camps during the press conference on Friday, with Martin Whitmarsh and Christian Horner clashing like never before despite tense relations since last year and the flexible wings controversy.

Be that as it may, aware of the poor image they were projecting of their sport and, considering the outcome of the qualifications, of their personal interests, the teams seem to be initiating a crisis resolution as quickly as it began, with the FIA having finally given in by allowing teams to choose whether or not to reverse the regulation changes regarding exhausts, provided all teams unanimously agree.

« It’s a very complicated subject and it’s difficult to put oneself in Charlie Whiting’s shoes. We were all reliable in Valencia and returning to that situation seems to be the most sensible thing to do. […] We are currently running on a compromise and we have accepted it for this weekend as long as there is a solution before Germany, » explains Christian Horner.

On his side, Martin Whitmarsh shares the opinion – let’s take advantage of it – of his counterpart at Red Bull Racing. Inevitably, in Formula One, self-interest sometimes takes precedence, but I think that unless we go backwards, this season will be full of paranoia, with the feeling of being disadvantaged.

A statement from Charlie Whiting himself, reported by Ted Kravitz, a reporter for the BBC, is enough to confirm the paranoid atmosphere of the moment: “Don’t be fooled by those who will tell you that Mercedes gains an advantage because that’s not the case. It’s just Red Bull feeling disadvantaged. »

The result of the qualifications, however, showed that if Red Bull had indeed slightly slowed down, allowing Ferrari to tease them in performance, it was not the team most to be pitied, considering all the difficulties encountered by their rival, McLaren-Mercedes. « It impacted the performance of our car and I think it’s obvious from the stopwatch, » admitted Martin Whitmarsh yesterday.

« It’s not good to change the rules during the season. If you do that, the teams that have worked the hardest to exploit this regulation point to the fullest could be disadvantaged, » explains the Team Principal of the British team whose car had regained momentum at the beginning of the season, partly thanks to the intensive work of the Woking team on the rear of the MP4-26 and on the low blowing.

According to Whitmarsh, returning to what the regulations were in Valencia, namely the freedom of exhaust gas exploitation and the prohibition of changing engine mapping between qualifying and the race, remains the best solution. « It’s probably the fairest option. […] No one complained about it 18 months ago, or 12 months ago, or even 6 months ago, so I think it would be the fairest thing to do. »

Ross Brawn, for his part, acknowledges, however, that by returning to what the regulation was in Valencia, there will be disappointments. « Whatever direction we take, someone will feel aggrieved by the solution that will be adopted. More people are now realizing that it would have been better to keep the status quo until the end of the season, and review the exhaust position for the next season where the impact will be less, and thus we could have avoided these difficulties. »

« We will meet at 10:30 AM [Editor’s note: 11:30 AM French time] on Sunday. It was clear, coming out of the meeting we had today [Editor’s note: Saturday], that there were different opinions. The meeting was held in a constructive spirit but there were different points of view. […] In all honesty, Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, and ourselves were happy to try and find a solution we thought was good for Formula One. It was the first time some teams heard our proposals and they want to think it over and provide an answer tomorrow. I hope we find a solution because we want to put this behind us and focus on the race. I really don’t know what will happen after the meeting, but I hope we find a solution. »

According to BBC Sport, ten out of the twelve teams have already agreed to return to the regulations as they were in Valencia, with only Williams and Sauber left to convince.

The Grove team, which is behind the FIA’s intervention in diffuser blowing, does not appear to have a firm opposition on the matter but is asking for time to reflect.

« It became quite clear that Williams, Ferrari, and Sauber were not fully aware of the problems faced by Mercedes and Renault. If these teams thought there had been enough discussions on how they needed to rebalance their engines for different gases and fuels, we knew nothing about it, » explains Sam Michael.

The first time I heard that there would be different solutions regarding exhaust gases was at lunchtime on Friday. So I think I left the meeting with a much better understanding of the issue because until you sit down and look at things in more detail, it’s a bit difficult. During the meeting, I got explanations from Paddy Lowe for Mercedes and Adrian Newey for Renault, and then I had a slightly more detailed conversation with Adrian Newey about the nature of Renault’s problems. Now, we have a much better insight into what the real issues are. However, I still don’t know how it will affect our position for tomorrow [editor’s note: today].

Sam Michael also stated that he wanted to meet with the Cosworth engineers to refine the team’s position. « I have heard everyone’s arguments and now I need to sit down with the guys from Cosworth and ours to see what our position is. However, this is only our viewpoint and it does not mean that the FIA will adopt it. »

But the position of the FIA is beyond doubt, and as the statement published by the Federation late in the afternoon already suggested, it will not backtrack without the unanimous agreement of the teams. The current situation has been decreed by the FIA and it suits them, declares Ross Brawn. So [if the teams don’t agree], I imagine we will remain in this situation.

It remains to be seen what position Williams and Sauber will take, with the former having announced a partnership with Renault for the next two – or possibly three – seasons, while the latter is one of Ferrari’s historical clients and partners…