Doohan\u2019s F1 dreams remain… as shock \u2018option\u2019 emerges<\/a><\/p>\nJack Miller: 2026 Starts Now | 07:52<\/p>\n
\u2018YOU KNOW MAX HAS A WAY OF SAYING SOMETHING\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n
Domenicali also played down some of the criticisms from the drivers.<\/p>\n
Verstappen described the hybrid-centric formula as \u201cFormula E on steroids\u201d, while Fernando Alonso quipped that super clipping made his car so much slower at some parts of the circuit that even the Aston Martin chef could drive it.<\/p>\n
Norris was initially positive about the rules, though he has since described them as \u201ccertainly not the purest form of racing\u201d. Hamilton opined that the rules were so \u201cridiculously complex\u201d that \u201cyou need a degree to fully understand it all\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Italian CEO said opinions had already shifted over the three weeks of testing and that the drivers were constructive behind closed doors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a meeting with all the drivers here, and everyone understands it\u2019s different, but there is a very big wish of being constructive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know Max has a way of saying something that could be sometimes interpreted in a certain way. I guarantee to you that Max loves and cares about Formula 1 more than anyone else. He has a way of putting the point that he wants to say in a certain way, but we had a very constructive meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll have a very constructive meeting also with the federation and the teams to highlight what his points of view are of what he believes needs to be done to keep the driving style at the centre without changing the approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the way, the comments of the first day are already different from the comments of the third day of driving. This will evolve. I\u2019m pretty sure that when we\u2019re going to sit down together in the middle of the year or at the end of the year, you will see a different picture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Feeney visibly distressed after victory | 01:39<\/p>\n
RULE CHANGES BEING PREPARED DESPITE ASSURANCES<\/p>\n
Despite Domenicali\u2019s optimism, the FIA and the teams are already preparing contingency plans if the opening rounds of the season see their worst fears realised.<\/p>\n
Australia is expected to be among the most difficult circuits for the hybrid motor, as is Saudi Arabia, the fifth round of the championship. Japan, round 3, will also require significant compromises.<\/p>\n
Several possible solutions have been floated to avoid some of the more extreme energy management required.<\/p>\n
One is to allow the cars to regenerate more energy through super clipping.<\/p>\n
Currently the car can automatically divert power from the internal combustion engine to the hybrid motor to charge the battery at certain parts of the track. Despite the hybrid motor being 350 kilowatts, it\u2019s limited to 250 kilowatts in reverse, when it\u2019s harvesting power rather than deploying.<\/p>\n
One idea is to boost that limit to the full 350 kilowatts, making super clipping more productive. That would make cars slower at certain parts of the track but in exchange for more power elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Reducing the maximum power output from 350 kilowatts down to anywhere as low as 200 kilowatts is another idea. That would effectively make the battery last longer, though this would also come at the expense of less power overall \u2014 for example, by neutering the currently very impressive acceleration speeds.<\/p>\n
Though both options would affect power \u2014 whether at only certain parts of the track or the overall maximum output \u2014 theoretically lap times would remain just as fast. The difference would be that drivers can drive the car in a more natural way. There would be less lifting and coasting \u2014 lifting off the throttle for a period of time at the end of straights before hitting the brakes \u2014 and less of a requirement for novel gear selections and other driving tricks currently practised to keep the battery full.<\/p>\n
It would also make preparing for qualifying laps less delicate, with drivers currently needing to balance tyre warm-up with starting the lap at 100 per cent charge.<\/p>\n
Both options, including both options together, were trialled during the final Bahrain test with the approval of the FIA.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can really assure you that in the F1 Commission there has been an open discussion to put on the table possible solutions to address this [lack of energy] issue,\u201d Domenicali said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s going to be a meeting before the start of the season to avoid over-reaction, because it\u2019s pretty clear we need to avoid over-reaction.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just stepped into a new journey, so that\u2019s why we need to stay calm.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is something that is useful and can be implemented straight away, I\u2019ve seen a very open approach by the FIA and also the teams showing the same kind of approach to eventually solve this kind of issues that are on the table to be solved and fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Broc Feeney wins third Supercars race | 02:57<\/p>\n
DOES IT MATTER ANYWAY?<\/p>\n
Domenicali, as F1 CEO, is naturally preaching calm, but he also rightly argues that there was considerable consternation over the 2014 rules early that season, almost all of which was found to be misplaced once racing got underway.<\/p>\n
The then F1 CEO, Bernie Eccelstone, along with then Ferrari president Luca Montezemolo, famously called for a crisis meeting about the apparent dearth in on-track action and spectacle on the Sunday of the Bahrain Grand Prix, shortly before Hamilton and Nico Rosberg\u2019s memorable race-long duel left both executives with considerable egg on their faces.<\/p>\n
The engine formula lasted 12 years without being considered a particular hindrance.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also worth remembering that Formula 1\u2019s fan base has grown significantly in the last five years. New fans will have no particular affinity for the previous naturally aspirated V8 era, and even fewer will have experienced a V10 or V12 car in the flesh.<\/p>\n
Hybrid engines have become very much part of Formula 1\u2019s DNA.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am pretty confident this will evolve in a situation that, at the end of the year, no-one will remember what we are talking about today,\u201d Domenicali said, per the BBC.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith all respect to all these technicalities we are taking about, it is something in the inner business of F1. [For] our 900 million fans, it is not in their business.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat has to be protected is having great racing, great overtaking opportunities, great challenge to the drivers to show they are best. If these points are not taken, we need to intervene and restart immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cars are really beautiful, the sound is very nice, and if you go around the track [in Bahrain], it seems that there is the car like it was last year, and that\u2019s very important for the one that are very specific technical details to understand.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t be worried about the energy management. We\u2019re going to solve that \u2014 if we need to solve it, by the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that the outcome of the Australian Grand Prix and the subsequent early races shouldn\u2019t be taken on their own given the newness of the rules, with development both technically and in understanding likely to change the game quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a build-up to an incredible season where a lot of people have different opinions, but as always, when we start the first race in Australia, we\u2019re going see the truth for that race [only], with the possibility that we can see different situations from track to track that will give different situations to understand,\u201d he said, per Racer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t make a final conclusion after the Australian race at all, whatever it would be, because it would be very, very premature \u2014 believe me on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The boss insisted that concerns over the new rules would dissipate once the lights go out in Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone will be focused on winning the race, and that\u2019s the focus that has to be remembered,\u201d he said, per Racer. \u201cThe winner will always be the fastest or luckiest. Nothing will be different from the past in that respect.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has called for calm amid criticism from drivers and scepticism among teams of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[198047,198023,198048,5806,2840,18614,198024,3846,198037,5206,49,48,131679,198025,184834,198036,198031,198042,18577,63172,58462,41833,198043,578,198035,34537,3018,198044,576,577,198020,198026,198052,198050,198045,198019,2454,591,198021,198033,198022,1885,198040,13586,198034,198041,22751,198039,18600,198046,198049,198051,41816,198029,13341,198032,82,198027,198030,1856,198038,18581,198028,42841,5515],"class_list":{"0":"post-493383","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-active-aerodynamics","9":"tag-all-new-rules","10":"tag-apparent-dearth","11":"tag-asia","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","14":"tag-australian-race","15":"tag-bahrain","16":"tag-braking-zones","17":"tag-british-broadcasting-corporation","18":"tag-ca","19":"tag-canada","20":"tag-chassis-rules","21":"tag-clear-crisis-team","22":"tag-combustion-engine","23":"tag-contingency-plans","24":"tag-crisis-meeting","25":"tag-driving-tricks","26":"tag-eastern-asia","27":"tag-electrical-energy","28":"tag-energy-management","29":"tag-engine-formula","30":"tag-extreme-energy-management","31":"tag-f1","32":"tag-f1-commission","33":"tag-fan-base","34":"tag-fernando-alonso","35":"tag-final-conclusion","36":"tag-formula-1","37":"tag-formula1","38":"tag-hybrid-engines","39":"tag-hybrid-motor","40":"tag-hybrid-centric-formula","41":"tag-impressive-acceleration-speeds","42":"tag-inner-business","43":"tag-jack-miller","44":"tag-japan","45":"tag-lando-norris","46":"tag-last-minute-rule","47":"tag-low-drag-straight-line-mode","48":"tag-luca-montezemolo","49":"tag-max-verstappen","50":"tag-maximum-output","51":"tag-melbourne","52":"tag-mindset-shifts","53":"tag-natural-way","54":"tag-new-south-wales","55":"tag-novel-gear-selections","56":"tag-oceania","57":"tag-on-track-action","58":"tag-opening-rounds","59":"tag-responsible-people","60":"tag-rule-changes","61":"tag-rules-controversies","62":"tag-saudi-arabia","63":"tag-season-opener","64":"tag-sports","65":"tag-stay-calm","66":"tag-super-clipping","67":"tag-sydney","68":"tag-toprak-razgatl","69":"tag-victoria","70":"tag-visible-distress","71":"tag-western-asia","72":"tag-world-champions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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