Steiner fears F1 could 'forget about overtaking' in 2019

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Haas F1 Team principal Guenther Steiner fears that the rush to introduce new aerodynamic rules for 2019 will actually worsen the existing problem with overtaking.

The FIA has signed off a number of changes to the existing technical regulations for next season in the hope of boosting the on-track action.

Among the revisions are a wider, simpler front wing with straighter endplates and no outwash. There will also be a wider, deeper rear wing to enhance the impact of the DRS, as well as modifications to bargeboards.

It's hoped that this will reduce the impact of turbulence and 'dirty air' on drivers as they try and close up and overtake the car in front.

But Steiner fears that any positive improvement will be lost because of the rush involved in making the changed in time for next season.

"These aero people, they do a study in a week, and they say 'This is what it is'," he grumbled.

"Then they do a study of two months, and [the outcome is] completely different, because they use every little bit of how the regulation is written to get as much performance.

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"That is the phase that everybody is in now," he added. "To get the most out of that regulation that was introduced after a three-week study.

"The three-week study was out of a good purpose, to make overtaking easier," he conceded. "But now the aero guys are on it too. Forget about overtaking, get performance.

"They are working to find out how much it is actually doing. I don't think anybody has the answer yet."

Steiner has already said that the mandated changes for next season will have an effect on Haas' plans for the remainder of 2018.

"We are still looking to find out how much it affects what we are doing," he confirmed. "They need to do some CFD [computational fluid dynamics] runs to see what the new front wing does.

"Then they decide, in the next two to three weeks, if we focus a little bit more on 2019 than with the old regs."

"There is a point we will need to switch to 2019, and with the limited windtunnel development and CFD time everybody is in the same situation.

"I think we will for obvious reasons - we don't want to be behind."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.