An increased fuel allowance and new rules on driver weight will be among the changes to Formula 1 racing next season, following positive and constructive discussions between F1 stakeholders in Paris on Tuesday.

The Formula 1 Strategy Group and the Formula 1 Commission met at the FIA’s French headquarters – FIA President Jean Todt and FI CEO Chase Carey were among those present – and agreed the following revisions to the F1 technical regulations for 2019.

- An increase in race fuel allowance from 105 to 110 kg. This will allow drivers to use the engine at full power at all times.

- Driver weight will now be considered separately to the car, meaning heavier drivers will no longer be disadvantaged.

- Drivers will be required to wear biometric gloves to increase safety and facilitate medical rescue.

Discussions will also continue regarding potential aerodynamic changes for next season, with a decision expected by the end of this month, once research being conducted by the FIA, in consultation with the teams, has been concluded.

Looking further ahead, the FIA presented its proposals for the 2021 power unit regulations, under which teams would continue to use 1.6 litre, V6 turbo hybrid engines, but with the MGU-H exhaust energy recovery system – one of the current unit’s most complex and costly elements – removed.

The FIA Technical Department will now meet with current and potential power unit manufacturers to discuss the proposals in more detail, with a view to finalising the 2021 regulations by the end of May.

All the proposed rule changes are subject to the approval of the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council.

​​​​​​under which teams would continue to use 1.6 litre, V6 turbo hybrid engines, but with the MGU-H exhaust energy recovery system – one of the current unit’s most complex and costly elements – removed.

Three Grands Prix in, Williams F1 remain the only team yet to score a point in 2018. Their best result is 14th place, they’ve only progressed into Q2 once this season, and their drivers are already frustrated with the car.

Why are Williams facing an early battle to avoid finishing at the tail-end of the constructors’ championship?

“Although these aren’t great results, and certainly not in the points, compared to where we were in Bahrain it’s fantastic get two cars to the finish in 14th and 15th,” commented Williams’ Chief Technical Officer Paddy Lowe after a difficult Chinese Grand Prix.

The nine-times constructors’ champions are having their worst start to a season in the hybrid era, and – based on finishing positions – their worst start to a season ever.

Since the hybrid era began in 2014, Williams have always developed cars with which they could maximise the performance advantage of the Mercedes power unit. Their low-drag cars were also ideal for the high speed circuits such as the Red Bull Ring or Monza.

They secured third place in the constructors’ championship in 2014 and 2015, and can consider themselves unlucky not to have snatched a win during this period.

However, with the performance of the power units gradually equalising in recent years, that advantage has been muted, and they also had a tendency to struggle at the lower-speed, higher-downforce circuits. Williams have found themselves dropping away from the podium places and falling behind Force India, who have managed to design a more ‘well-rounded’ car.

Comparing their first three races in each season across the hybrid era, Williams scored 30 points in 2014 with Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, improving to 48 points for 2015 with the same driver line-up.

Their three-race total for 2016 decreased to 29 points, whilst Massa and Lance Stroll managed 16 points in 2017, although this won’t have been helped by it being Stroll’s debut season.

Williams have slipped back into fifth place in the constructors’ championship and Lowe – who joined the team in March 2017 – believed it was time for a new design philosophy, one which would be able to effectively challenge at all circuit types. This season’s FW41 is the first car which he will have overseen the design of.

However, their car lacked pace in pre-season testing and in the first three races of the season. Only in Australia did Lance Stroll progress into the second part of qualifying, with every other attempt resulting in Q1 elimination.

They’ve been unable to progress in the races, either. Whilst reliability has been strong, their best finish remains 14th place, achieved by Stroll in all three of the races so far.

Bahrain in particular was a low point, with Stroll giving a rather damning verdict on the car after failing to beat his qualifying time from the previous year.

“It was shocking how big of a step backwards we had made. I was four tenths slower than I was last year,” said Stroll.

“We were losing time on the straights. We haven’t improved. We improved a little bit in the corners, but not even close to the extent we were hoping for.”

Whilst Stroll was keen to point out a lack of straight line speed, Lowe explained that there were a number of factors related to their deficit, and that more performance could be extracted from their cornering capabilities.

“The limitation in the car at the moment is corner entry and stability,” he explained.

“I mean, that is quite often the limitation in a car to be honest, but it’s particularly exaggerated at the moment with what we’re running.

“Mostly these things involve a strong aerodynamic element, but the solutions involve everything from suspension to tyres and everything else. It’s always multi-dimensional.”

Lowe added that owing to the strong correlation between the simulations and the track performance, he believed that Williams are capable of learning and correcting their weaker areas.

[...]

Felipe Massa has said Williams have "put money first" for 2018 but are still not able to be "competitive" in the World Championship.

Massa retired at the end of last season and was replaced by Sergey Sirotkin, who ultimately had more financial backing than popular choice Robert Kubica.

With Williams the only team left yet to score a World Championship point this season, Massa has been speaking about his former team's plight.

"It's true that the team was suffering from the financial situation and I think they made decisions for 2018 putting money first," Massa told Motorsport.com.

"But this is not enough to make a competitive championship.

"All I can say is that I came out with my head held high. I have a good relationship with everyone at Grove and I hope that the best for the team comes out as soon as possible.

"But I can add that I'm happy to have made my decision last year."

Asked if he agreed that his retirement was perfectly timed amid Williams’ problems, he said: "Yes.

"I chose the right time and now I'm enjoying my life. I hope Williams can recover."

New FIA clampdown on ‘trick’ engine modes

Date published: April 24 2018
The FIA have written to all teams to inform them of a new clampdown on engine modes that increase exhaust flow in corners.

‘Trick’ engine modes have been brought to the FIA’s attention again after Renault’s blown rear wing came under scrutiny before the season opener in Melbourne.

A mysterious third paddle has also appeared on Sebastian Vettel’s steering wheel at Ferrari (and only Vettel’s), with speculation mounting that the Scuderia have found a way to produce a performance boost by altering the car’s settings.

Ferrari had tried to keep the third paddle hidden but eagle-eyed photographers have noticed the new addition in the last couple of races.

FIA’s head of single seater technical matters, Nikolas Tombazis, has reiterated the governing body’s stance as they plan to look into each case individually.

“We do not accept that engine modes specifically designed to increase the exhaust flow in corners are permissible. Such (not permissible) engine modes can be either specific to a compressor-turbine by-pass system, or to flow passing through the cylinders,” wrote Tombazis.

“To be permissible, such flows should be the result of settings that genuinely increase the performance or reliability of the power unit, and not contrived to increase the exhaust flow.”

Tombazis added: “Notwithstanding the above point, we do not feel that it is practical or easy to write a catch-all rule that achieves this aim in a perfect way.

“For this purpose, we intend to control the usage of engine modes on a case-by- case basis and provide the necessary requests to the teams in order to stay within the acceptable limits with regard to [the above] point.

“While this is clearly not perfectly satisfactory, we feel it is the best possible way to handle the situation for 2018, especially as the effects are not large in any case.”

The FIA are keen to address the issue once and for all by adjusting the position of the exhaust.

“For 2019, we intend to overcome this issue by acting on the exhaust position,” he added. “This matter was discussed in the last TWG [Technical Working Group], but we do not feel that a sufficient solution was found.

“Hence, we intend to have a discussion on this topic in the next TWG, with the aim to achieve an exhaust position that clearly prevents any direct aerodynamic gain, thus eliminating the need for checks on engine modes.”
https://www.grandprix247.com

Daniel Ricciardo has rubbished suggestions that he has signed a pre-contract option with Ferrari, as he insisted that he has so far only spoken to Red Bull about his Formula 1 future.
The Australian's strong start to the campaign has thrust the Chinese GP winner into the centre of the 2019 driver market situation, with rivals Ferrari and Mercedes both options for him.

But after recent reports claiming that he had signed some form of pre-contract option with Ferrari to exclusively only deal with them for a set period, Ricciardo has categorically stated that is not the case.

"That is not true. I can say that," he said in Baku.

Despite the possibilities that are on offer for next year, with his Red Bull contract up at the end of this season, Ricciardo is clear that so far discussions have only taken place with his current bosses.

"I've only had talks with Red Bull," he said. "Even already last year we have been pretty open with each other and through the media as well they say they are interested in keeping me. We have had some talks regarding this.

"I am aware of other reports, but there hasn't been anything else. They are not true. At least not up until now. Certainly not."

Ricciardo is clear that he wants to get himself into a car in 2019 that he can win the championship with.

And following suggestions that Ferrari appears focused solely around Sebastian Vettel, judging by the strategy it put Kimi Raikkonen on in China, Ricciardo says that he will not accept playing second fiddle to anyone else.

"These are certainly things I would, wherever I may be or go, I would always make sure there was some clarity," he said.

"I wouldn't want to go somewhere where I didn't feel I had a chance. At the moment what I am chasing, to try to be world champion, it is my goal and dream and something I really believe I am capable of.

"If someone said, 'we will let you here but you can't to this', that is not an attractive option to me. Is that the case somewhere? I honestly don't know what is going on with other teams.

"At Red Bull there has always been really good clarity and fairness since 2014, since I have been there, so that has been certainly a nice environment and I would expect that environment everywhere."

Ricciardo reckoned that the summer break was likely the time when he would make a call on what he was doing in 2019.

"For sure, the summer seems fine," he said. "I guess I don't really fear not having a seat next year so I don't feel I need to sign something tomorrow or I have nothing.

"So for that reason I feel I can wait until the summer...I don't feel I need to push anything until then."

When asked by Motorsport.com if the curiosity to see what life was like at another team would get the better of him, Ricciardo said: "I don't know. I think the curiosity will not overcome the facts, in terms of what options I will have and which car is ultimately the fastest, that is really the top of my list.

"I wouldn't just go somewhere else for a change. If I did move on, I would make sure I felt it was potentially better, that is all."