FIA wants to ban qualifying modes in 2021

[El Scorchio]

Per Motorsport.com, the primary objective of the TD was to stop manufacturers from introducing “reliability” upgrades that actually were primarily performance-oriented (by allowing the PU to temporarily run beyond safe parameters).

The TD notes: “We believe that in many cases reliability issues are inevitable consequences of running the PU outside of its reliable operational limits in some moments of an event, and such reliability requests are in fact an indirect means of allowing more of the higher performance modes to be used during the life of a PU.”

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-m ... n=widget-1

So the truth comes out, the TD has nothing to do with anyone potentially cheating or to slow down Merc. The FIA is afraid teams will try and introduce performance upgrades via the reliability update clause.

It seems rather naive to think that just because teams aren't going to use qualifying modes that they still won't try and introduce performance improvements via the reliability clause.

I still think it’s an attempt to stop the gap widening. It seems clear Merc and to a lesser extent the other manufacturers are able to consistently find more performance while Ferrari are flummoxed at present or at least back to square one.

[Pany]

In this case I understand it will help and defend Mercedes PU supremacy, like the token-based development system

Per Motorsport.com, the primary objective of the TD was to stop manufacturers from introducing “reliability” upgrades that actually were primarily performance-oriented (by allowing the PU to temporarily run beyond safe parameters).

The TD notes: “We believe that in many cases reliability issues are inevitable consequences of running the PU outside of its reliable operational limits in some moments of an event, and such reliability requests are in fact an indirect means of allowing more of the higher performance modes to be used during the life of a PU.”

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-m ... n=widget-1

So the truth comes out, the TD has nothing to do with anyone potentially cheating or to slow down Merc. The FIA is afraid teams will try and introduce performance upgrades via the reliability update clause.

It seems rather naive to think that just because teams aren't going to use qualifying modes that they still won't try and introduce performance improvements via the reliability clause.

I still think it’s an attempt to stop the gap widening. It seems clear Merc and to a lesser extent the other manufacturers are able to consistently find more performance while Ferrari are flummoxed at present or at least back to square one.

[El Scorchio]

In this case I understand it will help and defend Mercedes PU supremacy, like the token-based development system

So the truth comes out, the TD has nothing to do with anyone potentially cheating or to slow down Merc. The FIA is afraid teams will try and introduce performance upgrades via the reliability update clause.

It seems rather naive to think that just because teams aren't going to use qualifying modes that they still won't try and introduce performance improvements via the reliability clause.

I still think it’s an attempt to stop the gap widening. It seems clear Merc and to a lesser extent the other manufacturers are able to consistently find more performance while Ferrari are flummoxed at present or at least back to square one.

I think that's the effect it may well have, but I don't think that's the intention at all. I really hate the idea of (all) the teams not being able to run their technology at it's possible limits. It's a crying shame.
In addition all supplied teams of a manufacturer only being allowed to run one standard single PU setting? That's a load of old cobblers too. At least let each team choose what's best for their own car relative to how it was designed. Do we really think Ferrari, Honda and Mercedes are going to cater to Haas, AT or Williams? I fear all it's going to do is widen the gap to all the customer teams who simply won't be able to set things up with the freedom they probably need.

[zibby43]

Dug up an article from Mercedes from a few years back.

In it, they discuss how they only really have 3 engine modes for a weekend: practice, quali, and race. Each of these three modes then have various sub-settings.

Just got me thinking, without seeing the nitty gritty of the TD, the "one engine mode for quali and race" is going to have some pretty decent wiggle room. Especially as the clever engineers have more time to scrutinize it.

"At Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, we use three basic modes over the course of the weekend - one for the majority of the free practice sessions, one for the majority of Qualifying and one for the majority of the race."

"All three can be altered with various sub-settings for different situations, which control whether electrical energy is being net deployed over a lap, recovered or used in a balanced manner (with energy deployment and recovery balancing each other out)."

https://www.mercedesamgf1.com/en/news/2 ... ine-modes/

[saviour stivala]

‘’If you hear some technical-sounding instructions over the team radio, it might well be the power unit mode being changed. The driver will then change the mode through the switches on their steering wheel’’.
That is one blatant breach of the sporting regulations (The driver must drive the car alone and unaided) that the FIA will eliminate.

[bauc]

So are engine mods banned from this weekend or no?

[subcritical71]

So are engine mods banned from this weekend or no?

Regarding changing engine modes, no word on when it will officially be banned. Earliest would be Monza.

[Big Tea]

So, will the driver still be able to 'twiddle his knobs' on the wheel without 'assistance' from the pitwall?
The more I read of this the less I follow what is and is not going to be allowed.

I mean, the days before the race, the driver can be sat in the sim and get a constant coaching through the track and learn it, but not be told on the radio does not seem to make sense.

[siskue2005]

‘’If you hear some technical-sounding instructions over the team radio, it might well be the power unit mode being changed. The driver will then change the mode through the switches on their steering wheel’’.
That is one blatant breach of the sporting regulations (The driver must drive the car alone and unaided) that the FIA will eliminate.

So better to ban team radio altogether, that will be more sense

[dans79]

‘’If you hear some technical-sounding instructions over the team radio, it might well be the power unit mode being changed. The driver will then change the mode through the switches on their steering wheel’’.
That is one blatant breach of the sporting regulations (The driver must drive the car alone and unaided) that the FIA will eliminate.

So better to ban team radio altogether, that will be more sense

They tried that before remember, and then they had nothing to broadcast so we had to listen to Crofty talk more (something I wish they would minimize).

[siskue2005]

‘’If you hear some technical-sounding instructions over the team radio, it might well be the power unit mode being changed. The driver will then change the mode through the switches on their steering wheel’’.
That is one blatant breach of the sporting regulations (The driver must drive the car alone and unaided) that the FIA will eliminate.

So better to ban team radio altogether, that will be more sense

They tried that before remember, and then they had nothing to broadcast so we had to listen to Crofty talk more (something I wish they would minimize).

Lol, yeah true
The less the sky team talks the better

[saviour stivala]

So, will the driver still be able to 'twiddle his knobs' on the wheel without 'assistance' from the pitwall?
The more I read of this the less I follow what is and is not going to be allowed.

I mean, the days before the race, the driver can be sat in the sim and get a constant coaching through the track and learn it, but not be told on the radio does not seem to make sense.

It is not only neutral but has always been the case (from time immortal) that a driver is briefed/coached before a race and nobody ever accepted anything other than that. But the sporting rules says that during a race the driver must drive the car alone and unaided and not be coached how to drive the car.

[saviour stivala]

In this case I understand it will help and defend Mercedes PU supremacy, like the token-based development system

I still think it’s an attempt to stop the gap widening. It seems clear Merc and to a lesser extent the other manufacturers are able to consistently find more performance while Ferrari are flummoxed at present or at least back to square one.

I think that's the effect it may well have, but I don't think that's the intention at all. I really hate the idea of (all) the teams not being able to run their technology at it's possible limits. It's a crying shame.
In addition all supplied teams of a manufacturer only being allowed to run one standard single PU setting? That's a load of old cobblers too. At least let each team choose what's best for their own car relative to how it was designed. Do we really think Ferrari, Honda and Mercedes are going to cater to Haas, AT or Williams? I fear all it's going to do is widen the gap to all the customer teams who simply won't be able to set things up with the freedom they probably need.

All power unit’s hardware and software supplied to customer teams must (and they are) be the same as that used by a manufacturer.

[PlatinumZealot]

‘’If you hear some technical-sounding instructions over the team radio, it might well be the power unit mode being changed. The driver will then change the mode through the switches on their steering wheel’’.
That is one blatant breach of the sporting regulations (The driver must drive the car alone and unaided) that the FIA will eliminate.

That was overturned after 2015(?) because they say the Power units are so complex the drivers could destroy them in the wrong mode or something like that.

[subcritical71]

That was overturned after 2015(?) because they say the Power units are so complex the drivers could destroy them in the wrong mode or something like that.

It seems much like track limits, enforced selectively, and then only after repeated offenses.

I would like to see a ban on telemetry though, keep the radios, but without data streaming off the car there won’t be much to coach. Might actually start seeing engines fail spectacularly like in the good ole days.