F1 has agreed a package of measures designed to appease driver concerns over their safety and certain elements of competition. A meeting on Monday between F1, the FIA, team bosses and engine manufacturers saw several changes agreed upon for the upcoming Miami Grand Prix.
The amount of energy management required with the new power units, which have a near 50-50 split between internal combustion and electrical power, has led to complaints from the drivers that their skills were being diminished. But the new directive places energy harvesting and deployment limits.
Similar measures have been introduced for races, along with capping of boosts and limits to power deployment in corners to improve safety.
Changes to the start procedure will be trialled in Miami, with the focus on improving safety by ensuring cars that struggle to pull away are not left as a hazard to others on the grid. The problem was that when fighting at full power, the engine and battery could have a 470bhp difference.
The parties agreed on two things: qualifying needs to be more on the limit again, and safety must be improved, especially after the closing speeds played a major role in Oliver Bearman’s crash in Japan. These will need ratification by the World Motor Sport Council next week.
The first will be implicated by adjustments to the energy management on both the deployment and harvesting sides. The amount of energy will be increased from 250 kW to 350 kW, meaning drivers will be able to harvest more energy and reduce clipping.
Though the cars will still lose top speed before the end of straights, the speed profile is considered more natural and, above all, safer than with unexpected lift and coast manoeuvres.
In qualifying, the harvesting limit will be reduced from eight to seven megajoules, though that can be lowered further at certain circuits. While it will make the cars slower, it will reduce the need for both lift-and-coast and super clipping. It should help to make qualifying more on the limit again, despite slightly slower lap times.
The total amount of permitted recharge on a lap has been reduced from 8MJ to 7MJ – thereby reducing the amount of energy needed to be recovered. The FIA estimate the super clipping will be between two and four seconds a lap.
The maximum power of the “boost” mode will be capped at 150kw, or the car’s existing deployment level, if that is higher. Cars will be allowed to deploy the full 350kw (470bhp) of electrical power in acceleration zones out of corners, but will be limited to 250kw at other parts of the lap.
This means that in the straight line mode (SM mode), the cars power will be at 350kw, but elsewhere, maximum deployment will not be allowed. For example, Bearman would have been able to deploy at only 250kw rather than the 350kw he was using in his incident.
Maximum levels of electrical deployment will be reduced to limit torque and improve car control. The exact limit has not yet been revealed.
- Race start changes will be tested in Miami, starts are more difficult this year as a result of changes to the engine architecture. The teams will test
- a “low-power start detection system” capable of identifying cars with abnormally low acceleration.
- In such cases, an automatic deployment of the MGU-K – which is not normally allowed at start speeds below certain speeds – “to ensure a minimum level of acceleration and mitigate start-related risks without introducing any sporting advantage”.
- A visual warning system, featuring flashing rear and lateral lights
- Changes to restrictions of energy have been introduced to prevent cars from arriving at the grid with low battery levels.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is satisfied with the outcome of the meeting and the constructive manner in which the teams approached it. He added, “I would like to praise everyone across the Formula 1 ecosystem – the FIA staff, teams, drivers and the power unit manufacturers – for the constructive and collaborative work carried out in a very short space of time.”
“While we have faced an unexpected gap in the calendar due to circumstances beyond the sport, all parties have remained fully committed to acting in the best interests of Formula 1. More than ever, the drivers have been at the heart of these discussions, and I would like to thank them for their valuable input throughout this process”
