Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has admitted that the new technical regulations for 2017 will inevitably be a compromise and not to everyone's liking, although he insisted that it would still be better than sticking with the scurrent tatus quo.
"The cars will have more downforce, more mechanical grip. They will look more aggressive and be more of a challenge for the drivers," Horner told the official F1 website when asked what the cornerstones of the emerging new regulations looked like.
"It is not carried as far as we would have liked," Horner admitted. "It’s a compromise solution, so let’s see. It is better than standing still.
With the continuing delay in agreeing and signing off next year's regulations, Horner is hoping for a final sign-off later this month but admitted that most teams would already have been forced to start work based on what they already knew of the mooted changes.
"It was planned for the end of February, but because nobody can decide these days it was postponed until April.
"We already know with a fair degree of certainty what the regulations are for next year," he said. "I should think all teams are now balancing their resource between 2016 and 2017."
Williams’ Pat Symonds has already made the point that a late sign-off of the regulations played into the hands of the bigger teams like Red Bull who have more money and resources to throw into accelerated development, and Horner agreed as far as chassis development went.
"We’ve always enjoyed regulation changes on the chassis side, the team relishes the opportunity," he said. "That is the car side. Power unit-wise we will have to see."
This year Red Bull is using TAG Heuer-badged power units which Horner says are identical to those being used by the Renault works team, but that the once-close working relationship between the two companies is now very much arms-length.
"We obviously have introduced Renault to Mario Illien who is now working directly with Renault. That relationship seems to be working well," he said. "But we have no technical involvement."
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