'Megaphone exhaust' makes no difference - Rosberg
Nico Rosberg was the first to trial a megaphone exhaust system on a current Formula One car in a trial to increase the noise generated by the hybrid 1.6l turbo engines.
Still in the first testing phase, the team ran a widened exhaust early in the morning to create some on-track data about the new system. Sadly for its inventors however, Rosberg did not notice much of a difference compared to a regular exhaust pipe.
"Everyone was talking about the exhaust but to be honest I didn't notice much difference in the sound", Rosberg said. "Of course, we're happy to try these things if that's what the FIA and the fans want us to do. But perhaps this was not the right solution."
While it's still early days, Renault's Rob White went on record on Tuesday that it will not be easy to find a solution, even though Renault is also committed to finding a solution. The Englishman said that dyno data retrieved by Mercedes was shared with Renault and Ferrari, even though initially it's just Mercedes who are trying the system on track.
Further slimming the chances that the "megaphone exhaust" will make it to a race are White's worries that it may benefit one engine manufacturer over the other, something that is unacceptable to any of the three power unit suppliers.
