RED BULL HAS ITS WAY ON ENGINE FREEZE
02
Red Bull will step up its commitment to F1 rather than feeling its way towards the exit after a landmark decision by the Formula 1 Commission, the body which presides over F1’s sporting and technical regulations. In the wake of Honda’s decision to withdraw from F1 as an engine supplier at the end of this season, Red Bull proposed that an engine-development freeze originally planned for 2023 should be brought forward to 2022.
Although it has been the subject of much pushing and pulling behind the scenes, the proposal finally received unanimous support at the Commission, a body in which all the teams as well as the FIA and the commercial rights holder are represented.
The engine freeze cleared the way for Red Bull to acquire the intellectual property for the Honda hybrid power unit programme and establish a new business line to manage ongoing production and maintenance. It’s understood this will also enable
Red Bull to redeploy engineering staff who might otherwise has been affected by the budget cap which is being introduced this season.
Significantly, no balance-of-performance mechanism has been written in to the regulations to enable lagging manufacturers to achieve convergence. Instead there is what amounts to a gentlemen’s agreement between the manufacturers and the FIA to address inequalities.
The decision has implications for the rest of the grid as rival manufacturers realign their development plans to mitigate against the effects of the freeze. Renault engine chief Remi Taffin confirmed that his organisation planned to fast-track developments originally planned for 2023 and make them production-ready in time for the beginning of the freeze. A Mercedes-style split turbo design is just one of these potential features.
Though the final details had yet to be agreed as this issue of GP Racing went to press, the F1 Commission also agreed to evaluate a different qualifying format at several grands prix this year. Canada, Italy and Brazil are all in the frame, while new F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali told the Daily Mail “Silverstone will definitely hold a sprint race”. The initial proposals involved Friday’s second practice session being replaced by a qualifying session which would determine the grid for a 100km race on Saturday, which would happen in place of the traditional qualifying session.
Domenicali confirmed the plans involved points being awarded for the top eight positions in the 100km race, which would also determine the final grid positions for Sunday’s grand prix. Crucially, to preserve “the peak of the event”, there would be no podium ceremony after the 100km race. Having seen other proposals to shake up the format (including various reverse-grid mechanisms) rebuffed, F1 has been careful to define the nomenclature of the new format. It’s understood that the 100km race will be referred to as “Superqualifying” rather than a “Sprint Race” in order to avoid devaluing the grand prix itself – both in terms of the points awarded and the status of Sunday’s victor as a grand prix winner.