F1 2013: Cause and effect
Anticipation is growing ahead of what is set to be one of the most competitive Formula One seasons of all time with five world champions all in with a realistic chance of taking the title in 2011. However, many of the sports leading figures are viewing the next two seasons and nothing more than a passing of time before F1 adopts a new set of technical regulations which the sports governing body, the FIA, believes will make the sport both more relevant to road cars and environmentally friendly.
The technical regulation changes
This most significant and controversial change is the downsizing of engines from 2.4 litre V8's to 1.6 litre turbo engines. This will be the first time that turbo engines have been legal in the sport since the 1980s when drivers such as Nigel Mansell (before he went on to star in Moneysupermarket car insurance commercials) took part in what many fans consider to be the most exciting era of the sports history when 1500bhp power-plants turned F1 cars into road worthy rockets. However, the 2013 engines will be far less powerful given their reduced size and expected to be capable of little over 650bhp. This is 100bhp less than the 2011 engines but this power deficit will be recovered using an increased capacity KERS device.
The cause
These regulations have evoked a mixed response from fans but they haven't been decided upon without massive deliberation between the sports key players. Part of this decision stems from the realisation that the sport has to become both more environmentally friendly and also more relevant to road car developments, with these two considerations not being mutually exclusive.
This was confirmed by BMW's withdrawal from the sport at the end of 2009, with the German manufacturing citing the sports lack of road car relevance and preoccupation with increasingly meaningless aerodynamic refinements as the reason. BMW board members felt that they could no longer justify an investment of over $150 million per year into F1 if all they were getting in return was publicity and brand recognition. F1 has a long traditional of being a playground for engineers to experiment with ideas which could in the future be relevant to road car technologies and it was felt that this was no longer possible with increasingly restrictive technical regulations.
The FIA therefore set about rectifying this and immediately banned in-race refuelling from the sport in time for the 2010 season. This placed a premium on fuel efficiency, as the most economic cars would benefit from a weight saving at the start of races as a result of having to carry less fuel. The purpose of this was to force F1 participants to come up with different ways to reduce fuel consumption, with these technologies and techniques potentially being transferrable to road cars. However, it was realised that there was not much else which could be done within the bounds of the current regulations to rectify the sports flaws which was turning away car manufacturers such as BMW, Honda and Toyota. The 2013 technical regulations were therefore announced.
The effect
The effect of this is a sport which according to Mclaren boss Martin Whitmarsh is of "more interest and value to car manufacturers in terms of the learning opportunities they present for optimising fuel efficiency and performance". In effect, the car manufacturers involved in the sport will not only gain publicity and brand recognition from their investment in the sport as before, but will also be able to develop and have access to pioneering environmental technologies which are of increasing interest to car manufacturers in light of ever increasing fuel prices. This was confirmed by Renault who has admitted that 75% of their road cars will be powered by small capacity turbo engines in 2015, and therefore what ever is learned by the French manufacturer in F1 with such engines should be transferrable.
At least four new car manufacturers have expressed an interest in designing their own engines for F1 in 2013 in order to take advantage of these new rules. One of these is Volkswagen which is aiming to establish itself as the worlds most popular car manufacturer and realises that in order to do this it has to improve the fuel efficiency of its road cars. It was initially believed that VW would do this with their Audi brand in collaboration with Williams but it now appears that 2010 champions Red Bull have stole the deal from under Williams nose and that Red Bull cars will be powered by Audi engines in 2013. Meanwhile, it is alleged that Honda will be a surprise returnee in 2013 with the Japanese manufacturing having been heavily involved in the framing of the new environmental technical regulations given their ambitions to close the gap on arch-nemesis Toyota who are generally seen as the environmental leaders of the automotive industry.
Malaysian Sports Car Company Lotus has already begun the process of getting itself acquainted with the sport by buying into the Renault F1 team which will be re-named Lotus Renault GP in 2011. Lotus CEO Dany Bahar has stated that the company is keen to ramp up its involvement in the squad by designing its own engines for 2013. Another F1 team which is set to diversify its operations into engine production is Mclaren, with the ultra successful British team planning to end its relationship with Mercedes upon the completion of their contract in 2012. The introduction of these new regulations is therefore perfectly timed for Mclaren so that they are able to enter the engine manufacturing division of the sport at a time when none of their rivals will have the benefit of existing experience of operating within established regulations. Formula One is going to look like a very different sport in 2013.