Williams technical director Pat Symonds has stated that the aerodynamics package for the 2017 regulations have been drafted, in preparation for the imminent “shakeup” of the sport’s technical regulations.
Symonds hopes that the draft will be approved by the World Motor Sport Council, after the collaboration of the FIA and the teams. The emphasis is on faster lap times and making the cars more of a challenge to drive, however, fans can only speculate as to how the two different philosophies will merge together in the new rules.
The changes for the aerodynamics fall under Article 3 of the technical regulations which refer to bodywork and dimensions. Symonds is confident that the changes will gather momentum quickly, as they are specifically designed with wider tyres in mind.
Speaking to motorsport.com, Symonds stated: “There is a set of regulations, a draft of Article 3, largely the work of Williams putting the wording together, although the discussion has been very wide.
“That draft is going to the teams within the next week, but it’s essentially everything that’s been agreed just put down into one document.
“It does fully define the aerodynamic regulations. In itself it doesn’t define the tyre size, but we have agreed on the tyre size, and the regulations are built around those tyre sizes.
“Because although Article 3 doesn’t refer to tyre sizes, obviously various widths of wings and bodywork are linked to that.
“I believe that we have now a fully defined set of rules that relate to all the bodywork. I believe we have agreement with Pirelli as to what the tyre sizes will be.
“There are some differing opinions as to what the performance of the package will be, as in indeed there were in 2008.
“But we’re in a position to go ahead. As far as I know the Strategy Group, everyone’s happy, the F1 Commission, they are happy I believe. The rules need to be ratified before March, and there’s time for that. We’re pretty well there – we’ve done what we were asked to do.
“The majority of the cues are taken from the Red Bull proposal. It’s ended up with a bigger diffuser, a substantial front wing, and some I think quite an attractive styling.
“It’s a little bit retro, but the brief from the Strategy Group was to make the cars quicker and make the styling better. I think we’ve done those two.
“It’s not for me to say whether we’ve done the right thing or not, but the TRM (Technical Regulation Meeting) members have done what was asked of them.”
Symonds is adamant however, that the plans are flexible and can be adjusted if more speed from the cars is desired.
“To be honest we’ve got quite a wide open aerodynamic platform, it won’t take much to add performance to it.
“In fact I suspect that we’re adding a bit more than required, but at the moment Pirelli’s estimates of increases of tyre grip are quite low, so we need to push the aero side of things.”
The aero heavy focus could bring flashbacks to the early 2000’s where overtaking was difficult as it was impossible to follow another car, and it was raised again by Lewis Hamilton in Brazil despite a number of excellent overtakes by Max Verstappen. Symonds has admitted he has yet to overcome this obstacle.
“My belief is that the more downforce you have on a car, the harder it is to follow. And this car has more downforce.
“Therefore irrespective of any niceties that the Overtaking Working Group may have come up with, and irrespective of whether one believes them or not – and as a member of that group I know what short cuts we did against the true scientific process – the fact is if you’ve got more downforce, the harder it is to follow.
“I think that’s simplistic, but nevertheless quite a true view.”
