Force India angered by 'unfair' Strategy Group

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Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley says he has been able to see how "unfair" the Strategy Group is after gaining a seat among the top six teams.

The Strategy Group is made up of Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren, Williams and the next best team in terms of constructors' championship finishing position from the previous season. Force India was part of the Strategy Group this year and will remain so in 2017 having finished fourth in the constructors' championship but Fernley says a recent blocked proposal shows the system allows the big teams to protect their advantage.

Force India had proposed an increase in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) development - currently restricted by the FIA - for teams who would rather focus on that technology rather than wind tunnels. However, with no other team supporting the idea, Fernley says the smaller teams are being unfairly treated.

"I think it shows the flaws in the strategy group," Fernley told Motorsport.com. "A programme that has been proposed to benefit F1 as a whole, and progress technology in F1 so that we become a leading exponent of the that technology, has been rejected purely on self-interest.

"And that self-interest just shows how bad the concept of the Strategy Group is. It just confirms what I've always said, it's not fit for purpose. We're on it, but all it does is allow us to witness how unfair it is.

"It was a very detailed proposal, and we believe it had merit. The concept was to be able to progress to CFD, if you wanted to do it, and it was open for everybody to be able to do that.

"The only reason the teams have voted against that is to protect the advantage that they have today. It's just a refusal to allow things to progress."

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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.