NEW RULES INCLUDE ENGINE FREEZE
Last Updated: Friday, 24, March, 2006, 13:07
A three-year freeze on engine design, a move to a single tyre
supplier and the replacement of 10-place grid penalties were among
the new rules approved by the FIA World Motor Sport Council on
Wednesday.
The WMSC met in Paris to ratify a new set of sporting regulations
that will take effect from 2008.
Many of the reforms have been on the table for some time; the
principle of a single tyre supplier, for example, was agreed at the
previous WMSC meeting in December, which set out the basis for the
2008 technical regulations.
But the engine freeze is a radical and controversial
change.
It was one of the issues about which the Grand Prix Manufacturers
Association expressed concern in the letter it sent to FIA
president Max Mosley on Tuesday night.
The GPMAs 11th-hour attempt to delay ratification of some of the
proposed changes pending further discussion fell on deaf
ears.
The new engine rules will require teams to submit their designs for
homologation by 1 June.
The specification will then be frozen and only FIA-approved
modifications will be permitted.
The measure is a central plank of Mosleys cost-cutting programme
but although proposed by GPMA member Renault it is not popular
with most of the manufacturer teams.
They fear it will undermine F1s status as the pinnacle of
technology and also that the three-year cycle will cause
instability in their staffing arrangements.
Other changes approved by the WMSC include a mandatory testing
limit of 30,000km (18,600 miles) per team per year, a ban on spare
cars and a requirement for gearboxes to last four races.
The move back to a single tyre supplier will be accompanied by a
return to slicks and a ban on tyre-warming blankets.
And instead of the current 10-place grid relegations, changing an
engine before the end of its two-year cycle will attract a 15kg
weight penalty.
The requirement for new teams to lodge a $48 million deposit with
the FIA has also been dropped, while the WMSC held open the
possibility of a 20-race calendar in future.
