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#3 REASON FOR HOPE – A CHANCE TO PLAY CATCH UP?
Making significant progress under a stable set of regulations requires major investments for minor gains, a state of affairs that end up penalising midfield outfits and other F1 minnows running on tight budgets.
“It’s always an opportunity with new regulations,” Toro Rosso technical director James Key told F1i. “There are lots of different arguments about this.
“My personal view is that it’s opportunity. Some people say ‘If the rules stay the same, the grid closes up’, but it doesn’t, it gets more and more expensive and more complicated.”
Shaking up the competitive order is welcome news, but it won’t make for better races if the gaps between the teams are not closer.
While all squads have had to design their latest challenger under the same restrictions on windtunnel testing and CFD work, the better-funded outfits have been tipped to remain at the front of the field.
“The cars will also be slower on the straights as the drag of the wider cars and tyres is much higher,” Charles added. “This will mean cars with more efficient downforce packages or more powerful power units will be at a further advantage for both lap time and overtaking in 2017.
“These are the respective strengths of the Red Bull and Mercedes teams in recent time and so it will be interesting to see if others can jump into the mix with these two teams.”
Behind the top teams, competition should be fierce, with everyone starting from a blank canvas, which could erase previous advantages. Rules interpretation of the new regulations remains at an early stage so expect aero development pace to be higher than in previous seasons as well. This means the momentum could swing more frequently during the year.
