Categories: 2017 SeasonF1 News, Reports and Race Results

New regulations 'really difficult' to achieve for 2017

Pat Symonds has warned it will be "really difficult" for the new aerodynamic regulations to be implemented by 2017.

A meeting of the F1 Commission on Tuesday approved new aerodynamic regulations for next season which are designed to make cars faster and more difficult to drive. With the FIA explaining the main bodywork changes it was also announced that the deadline for the finalisation of the regulations has been pushed back until the end of April.

2017 regulations: Main aero changes explained

When asked how realistic it is the 2017 regulations will be brought in when they will only be finalised on April 30, Williams' chief technical officer Symonds replied: “I think it’s really, really difficult.

"Bearing in mind that there’s already been a few fundamental changes since early December, we’ve seen three quite distinct sets of regulations. So we think where we are now but if we don’t really know until May then that’s very difficult for the smaller teams.”

While saying he was "surprised" a decision wasn't reached on Tuesday, Symonds also warned there is a lot of detail still to be finalised.

“We really haven’t got anything particularly definitive on [aero regulations] yet. As everyone knows we have been working on it for quite a while now. I think we have a situation that the technical guys are quite happy with, it's a situation that’s been batted backwards and forwards amongst the teams and with Pirelli. I think there is a position we are quite happy with but that is not yet in a set of rules so we really need to see where that gets to.”

And Symonds admits Williams will be at a disadvantage to the bigger teams if the new regulations receive final approval less than a year from their implementation.

“It has a much bigger [impact] on smaller and less well-financed teams, that’s a fact. If you’ve got a very big team, a lot of people, very good manufacturing facilities etc then you can react to late changes quicker. So it’s much more difficult for Williams than it is for say Ferrari, Mercedes, whoever.”

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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.