19/08/2024
NEWS STORY
Ultra-competitive 2024 season causes F1 to rethink how often the regulations should be changed.
Five rounds into the season it was beginning to look as if we were in for a repeat of 2023, with Max Verstappen winning four of the opening races and Carlos Sainz claiming the only non-Red Bull victory.
But since Miami the season has witnessed a dramatic turnaround with McLaren and Mercedes claiming wins, setting up a dramatic conclusion to the second half of the season.
All too often, when the regulations are overhauled, one team does a better job of interpreting the new rules than its rivals and sails off into the distance as its rivals seek to catch up. It happened with Mercedes and following the most recent overhaul Red Bull made a better fist of it.
But now the teams, especially at the top are converging, setting up the possibility not only of a barnstorming conclusion to this season but a thrilling 2025, after which the major regulation overhaul of 2026 is likely to witness another couple of years where one team has the upper hand.
"This is a point of: is really now the time to do in 2030 another step change?" F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali tells Motorsport.com. "We are not in a position to answer today, because we need to wait and see how this new technology will come in and how this will be developed.
"Therefore, there will be a point at which we need to discuss about it, and we need to understand if the need of the manufacturers, the need of teams and the need of the engineering, is definitely there as it was when there was the need to change the regulation.
"The need for change normally is put on the table for two reasons," he explains. "One is because we are the pinnacle of motorsport, and we are endorsing the top level of technology. The second in the past was that, because it was pretty clear: the objective was stopping a dominance period of cars.
"I remember when we were dressed in a different colours," he continues, referring to his former role as Ferrari boss, "so that's part of the game. But now with the new elements of regulation, budget cap and aerodynamics restriction, I think that this point is not anymore on the table of discussion.
"So the real thing is technological challenge in the future. Is it relevant that the change will be in such a short time cycle of five years? That will be the point of discussion for the future."
Further muddying the waters in 2026 is the fact that the engine rules change, a move which has encouraged the likes of Audi, Ford and possibly GM, but which will most likely, along with the changes to the cars, see one team come out on top.
"There are always reasons why we are changing," says the Italian. "First of all, because we need to be ahead of what we are doing. And this (2026) technical regulation was, at that specific moment that the decision was taken, related to a need for manufacturers to be involved in F1, with a different kind of technology that would need to be used. I do believe that is really fundamental and crucial.
"Plus, the fact that now we have sustainable fuel at the centre of this technical project will speed up the process of making sure that this new technology will be available for the mobility world quicker. It will develop a drop in fuel with a lower price that will be beneficial to the market around the world. That I'm pretty convinced.
"As you know today, the price of sustainable fuel is much higher, but F1 has been always very good in speeding up the process and helping technology to go in the right direction. So that's really what I'm expecting, and I'm sure that everyone will work in this direction."
Of course, while Audi has been attracted to join the grid we are on the verge of losing Renault, one of the key driving forces behind the introduction of the hybrid era in the first place.
"I think that the real decision was related to another condition, to be very open and very honest with you," says Domenicali. "It's not related to the wrong regulation. It is related to a different situation that they have to deliver a result in a different timeframe.
"I believe that, at the moment when the regulation was defined, there was the need to make sure that the manufacturers were really interested to be part of the championship. They are a vital element of this equation, because with no engine we cannot run, therefore there was the need to listen.
"And it is true that, because we don't have to be to be shy or to hide behind a tree, that it was a compromise solution because of the different interests of all the different manufacturers, in fact. But I would say, the FIA tried to do the best to make sure that we could have something that would be okay for everyone. That is true."
Whenever the next rules overhaul might be, Domenicali admits that element of the current cars that needs to change - a view shared by the drivers - is the weight, indeed the size, of the cars.
"I think what will be always on the table in the future will be the weight and the dimension of the cars because we don't have to forget where the formula car approach was started.
"We are now in a situation where cars are big, cars are heavy, and maybe in the future, with this new development, we can really decide to go back to be lighter.
"But I would say, it is a bit premature to discuss about it. Let's see, first of all, how we can prepare to be really ready for the right technical regulation, also sporting regulations, for '26 and then we will discuss accordingly at the right time.
"I do believe that the right way to develop that would be either to stay with this kind of concept, with moves to reduce the weight, or, if sustainable fuel is doing the right job to be zero emission and we are taking the point of sustainability in the right way, maybe we don't need any more to be so complicated or so expensive in terms of engine development. So we may think to go back to engines that are much lighter and maybe with a good sound.
"I think that this point of discussion will be for sure in the three years after the introduction. So in the middle of the new journey, we need to think and see where we are and what we believe the situation is evolving.
"But one thing that is very important," he insists. "Look back and see how things are changing so rapidly, so quickly. I remember everyone a couple of years ago was saying, 'Ah, electric cars for everyone, forever'. Now, the handbrake is bigger than going ahead; so we need to be prudent.
"We need to make sure that we are taking the right approach. We are in a sport business and therefore I think that we need to take the right decision for our needs and for our sport."
As for how the conclusion to the current season is shaping up, the F1 boss insists that he was never in any doubt.
"I'm very pleased to say what I said at the beginning of the year is exactly what is happening, when everyone was believing that I was saying that for political reasons," he says. "This will for sure continue until the end of 2025. This element of sporting action, and sporting drama, is definitely there."