New FIA clamp-down on engine mapping

Chris Jenkins

Driving til the wheels fall off
formula 1 teams are to face a further clampdown on engine mapping use from this weekend's european grand prix, autosport has learned, with the fia moving to eradicate special qualifying-only settings
ahead of the effective ban on the off-throttle use of blown diffusers from next month's british grand prix, motor racing's governing body has shown it is determined to prevent teams from using any form of clever engine use to help aerodynamic performance.
in a note sent from f1 technical delegate charlie whiting to the teams, he made it clear that with immediate effect teams will no longer be allowed to change engine maps between qualifying and the race.
such a move will effectively prevent teams from running an extreme engine map for qualifying - such as one that produces more exhaust blowing or burns more fuel and then reverting to a safer setting for the grand prix itself.
one theory surrounding red bull racing's qualifying dominance this year, compared to the fact it has not been so fast in the race, is that the team has been using extreme engine maps in qualifying to boost performance for a single lap.
mclaren's principal race engineer phil prew said about his team's theory on red bull racing's form earlier this year: "i think tyre optimisation may be one area, and the use of elaborate engine modes may be another - with the generation of downforce being quite highly influenced with the exhaust flows."
the new directive from the fia means that any engine mapping setting used in qualifying has to now be used for the start of the race with the first opportunity to change it now only possible at the first pitstop when a computer could in theory be plugged into the car.
however, such a move would be hugely impractical because of the speed of modern pitstops.
the extreme engine maps that some teams may be using for qualifying would be unusable in the race because they risk reliability of engines over longer distances and could burn too much fuel.
although the changes to the regulations coming into force over the next two races will affect all teams, the main focus will be in terms of what impact it has on pace-setters red bull racing.
ferrari team principal stefano domenicali said at the canadian grand prix that he believed silverstone could mark the start of a totally new picture in terms of the world title fight.
"we need to see in silverstone, what is the real effect of this change in the regulations with regard to the effect of the exhaust," he said.
"then, we will see really where is the second championship in terms of the level of performance above all in higher downforce tracks."
Source: Autosport
 
I don't like Red Bull's dominance at all, however in F1 there does seem to be a nature of "Oh look, this team has come up with something innovative that gives them an advantage, let's ban it" rather than embracing the technology.

F1 used to be the pinnacle of motorsport. I love F1, but I can see it turning into an absolute farce. DRS at Canada was one example.
 
What if they made it so that teams couldn't change the settings on the cars for the first 50% of races, including engine mapping and drs could only be used in the designated race areas in qualifying and practice. So that if a team uses gobs of fuel in qualifying to burn up in blown diffusers and whatever else they would be screwed in the long term as it would make them have to run very lean on fuel the rest of the way.
 
Thats why the FIA is taking more immediate action against the 'hot-blown' diffuser.
It goes against the greener image that the FIA is trying to create.
 
But if all teams are limited to the amount of fuel they can use, its really not one or the other. The point I made was for the teams that do that knowing might shoot themselves in the foot in that latter stages of a race.
 
What are the limits on the fuel they can use?
And also, limit or not, if the FIA bans things that use more of a team's allocation of fuel, overall the fuel consumption will come down, thus being more environmentally friendly.
I think that's the angle they're looking at.

I completely appreciate your point and it does pose an interesting view on strategy, but for that 50% of the race or whatever, the cars are a lot less fuel-efficient and that's the complete opposite of what the FIA is trying to achieve, as it would ultimately be 50% of the entire season that wasn't as fuel effective as it could've been.
 
wealth isn't a matter of being unfair, besides Redbull have a budget close to Team Lotus and Williams anyway.

And besides for Redbulls case, they got Renault To help them develop the off throttle engine mapping.
 
Weren't Red Bull reportedly the only team last season to request authorisation to exceed their spending?
There were reports in the off-season that Red Bull had exceeded a limit on resource expenditure set by the FIA.
 
Sometimes I think they should just say, "No restrictions" - do what you want. Choose what tyres you want etc. Just restrict width and length of wheelbase etc.Then we would see the really good engineers come out!
 
Something similar to the Group 7 days would be fun, but costs get rapidly out of hand and everyone ends up quitting. (and while the cars were impressive, the racing was fair at best). It really doesn't work for long. It's really too bad that budget limits are unenforcable, because an less limited formula with a set budget of X million would see who was really innovative.
 
If none of these things were banned f1 would just turn boring again like it was when schumacher was winning every race. They change the rules to make the cars have less downforce but then teams will find a loophole in the rules and develop something that gives them more. The f-duct reduced downforce on the straights which allowed teams to run a higher downforce level for the corners, and the double diffuser and the engine mapping just give the teams more downforce overall. But the main problem is that only the top teams can afford to develop such ideas which put them above the smaller teams even more than they already are, and if that happens too much the small teams wont carry on.
 

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