Do the F1 regulations really warrant a change, or is it just a case of sour grapes from non-performing teams?

Luca di Montezemolo, Chairman of Ferrari addressing the media during the Bahrain Grand prix

In the weekend leading up to the Bahrain Grand Prix, a lot of emphasis was laid on the “much-required” rule changes in Formula 1. Leading the charge was Chairman of Ferrari, Luca di Montezemolo. Mr. Montezemolo’s concern is that the current regulations that are in place will eventually lead to a decline of Formula 1 as a whole.

“Formula One is our life, so we have to look ahead, sharing with the other teams a good solution. I don’t want to think of the decline of Formula One, and if we look at it today, we have a race that is no longer Formula One”, said Montezemolo.

He also went on to say that economy is not something that is particularly suited to the sport. “We have to give back to Formula One its characteristics. We cannot have an economy formula. It has to be extreme, with racing from the first lap to the last. Formula One is also about the engine music – not noise – and we also have to make sure it is not too complicated with regard to the rules”.

Further, Montezemolo mocked the fuel limit prescribed by FIA by saying that, “If an engine drinks less fuel, good, it means you can do a race on less fuel, but a public doesn’t like a taxi driver that has to respect the fuel. This is not Formula One.”

From Montezemolo’s statements we can deduce that he is mainly unhappy with the fuel limit and noise reduction. As per the current regulations, a Formula 1 car is allowed to use 100 kg of fuel per race. Also, the fuel flow is limited to 100 kg per hour. Earlier there was no limit to fuel usage in the race and neither was there any fuel flow per hour limit. These changes were mainly introduced to show the world that Formula 1 is indeed taking steps to protect the environment.

In short, Formula 1 wanted to go green. The sound issue is however a by-product of using the turbo-charged engines which reduce the noise produced to a certain extent.

The second case in point was noted by the fans too. Things even went to the extent that the organizers of the Australian Grand Prix contemplated seeking a reduction in the contracted amount payable to hold the race! This put Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA on the backfoot. Eventually a meeting was held during the course of the Bahrain Grand Prix and a decision was made to explore possibilities on how to increase the noise of the current V6 turbo-charged engines.

However, an interesting aspect to note here is that the noise emitted by an engine is proportional to the RPM. The earlier V8 engines had an RPM limit of 18,000, while the current V6 engines have an RPM limit of 15,000. But, the teams have limited the RPM limit to 12,000 both during the qualifying session and also during the race to maintain consistency and to meet the fuel limit (higher rev is equal to higher fuel consumption). Hence, due to the lower revs the noise produced by the engine is proportionally less.

It is somewhat surprising to see that people have started to recognize the changes in regulations only now. These changes were proposed and approved around four and a half to five years ago. They were introduced mainly to attract manufacturers like Mercedes, Renault, Ferrari and Honda. With the application of these rule changes, the aforementioned teams could pitch their products to their prospective customers by displaying their superior performance during the race.

It should be noted that effective and frugal usage of fuel was one of the main highlights. The fuel limit also pushes the teams to eke out optimum performance from the car and truly tests the ability of the manufacturer to produce an engine which works best in a given scenario.

Another important aspect that was considered was that if these big manufacturing teams came on board, it would also attract the much-needed investments and sponsorships which were slowly dwindling away from Formula 1.

So questioning the current regulations after just three races into the season certainly doesn’t augur well for Formula 1. We are in a phase where we do need to care about the environment, and for that we do need to produce sophisticated engines which are high on power and low on fuel. This is the way forward, there’s no doubt about that. The teams which are criticizing the regulation changes need to take a cue from the events of the Bahrain Grand Prix (which of course was one of the most exciting races after a long, long time), accept the reality and move on.

P.S.: Perhaps it would be wise for Mr. Montezemolo to direct his concerns of decline to his Ferrari engineers instead of the F1 organizers.