The FIA has issued a press release Thursday, indicating that they want to put an end of the infamous blown exhausts controversy that has raged for months now in Formula 1.
From FIA Q&A
This issue arose shortly before the Spanish Grand Prix. Was it initiated by the FIA or did it come from an F1 team?
The matter was initiated by the FIA when facts concerning some quite extreme, and hitherto unseen, engine mapping began to emerge. We were concerned that exhaust tailpipes were being positioned and engine maps created with the primary objective of improving in the aerodynamic performance of the car. Prior to that it had been assumed that any aerodynamic benefits were incidental to the primary purpose of the engine and its exhausts, (i.e. that of generating torque).
Why did you decide to act?
We decided to act as, not only did we consider such extreme mapping to be arguably illegal, but also if such freedom was left unchecked it would result in the teams incurring significant further development costs during the season.
Is the off-throttle blown diffuser illegal under the 2011 technical regulations?
We certainly consider them to be questionable; however, the key is whether or not we consider any particular engine map to have been created for any other reason than the generation of engine torque.
Is its illegality an unforeseen side-effect of the rule to ban F-Ducts?
No, the two are unconnected.
Why was it not possible to simple introduce blanket limits on hot and cold-blowing and apply them equally to every car?
This is precisely what we attempted to do in the first communication to the teams on 12 May. However, it soon became apparent that the matter was more complex than initially thought. The main problem was the difficulty of ensuring that teams were not prevented from using existing legitimate strategies whilst ensuring that the extreme mapping was no longer possible. This is why we postponed the introduction of the measures until the British Grand Prix.
There are also a number of other mechanical factors to take into account such as the architecture of the engine throttles themselves (butterfly or barrel operation).
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| Rear end of the Ferrari 150 Italia (Photo: WRI2) |
From FIA Q&A
This issue arose shortly before the Spanish Grand Prix. Was it initiated by the FIA or did it come from an F1 team?
The matter was initiated by the FIA when facts concerning some quite extreme, and hitherto unseen, engine mapping began to emerge. We were concerned that exhaust tailpipes were being positioned and engine maps created with the primary objective of improving in the aerodynamic performance of the car. Prior to that it had been assumed that any aerodynamic benefits were incidental to the primary purpose of the engine and its exhausts, (i.e. that of generating torque).
Why did you decide to act?
We decided to act as, not only did we consider such extreme mapping to be arguably illegal, but also if such freedom was left unchecked it would result in the teams incurring significant further development costs during the season.
Is the off-throttle blown diffuser illegal under the 2011 technical regulations?
We certainly consider them to be questionable; however, the key is whether or not we consider any particular engine map to have been created for any other reason than the generation of engine torque.
Is its illegality an unforeseen side-effect of the rule to ban F-Ducts?
No, the two are unconnected.
Why was it not possible to simple introduce blanket limits on hot and cold-blowing and apply them equally to every car?
This is precisely what we attempted to do in the first communication to the teams on 12 May. However, it soon became apparent that the matter was more complex than initially thought. The main problem was the difficulty of ensuring that teams were not prevented from using existing legitimate strategies whilst ensuring that the extreme mapping was no longer possible. This is why we postponed the introduction of the measures until the British Grand Prix.
There are also a number of other mechanical factors to take into account such as the architecture of the engine throttles themselves (butterfly or barrel operation).