F1 News
Date: 8/July/2011
The FIA's attempt to stamp out the controversy surrounding 'off-throttle blown diffusers' in Formula One backfired on Friday at Silverstone, where team principals from the title-leading Red Bull and McLaren teams clashed publically over a last-minute amendment.
'Blown diffusers' refers to the practice of pointing exhaust pipes under the car, so that the powerful engine gases can be used to increase downforce.
This remains legal, but from the British Grand Prix onwards the FIA intended to stop 'off throttle' use - where engines continue to pump out disproportionate levels of gases, even though the car is slowing down.
The FIA wanted to stop the increased use of the engine as an aerodynamic device, and return to a direct link between engine output and acceleration.
Making such a technical change mid-season wasn't welcomed, but FIA race director Charlie Whiting claimed there was a real chance of some teams protesting the race results if something wasn't done.
Whiting and the FIA decided the best way to reign-in the technology was to impose limits on how much the throttle could remain open when a drivers lifts his foot off the pedal.
"We're saying that if a driver comes off the throttle - zero pedal - then the throttles have got to be [no more than] 10 per cent open at 12,000rpm and [no more than] 20 per cent open at 18,000rpm," Whiting explained at the previous Valencia round.
His next sentence was to highlight the basis for the Friday controversy at Silverstone: "One engine manufacturer is asking for a little bit more [per cent open] - for what appear to be genuine reasons."
That manufacturer is now known to be Renault, which powers the championship leading Red Bull car of Sebastian Vettel and his team-mate Mark Webber.
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh revealed that, during Silverstone practice, it was announced that Renault could run with 50% off-throttle opening, having convinced the FIA that this has been part of their engine design for many years and needed to keep the engine cool.
That concession didn’t go down well with the likes of McLaren or Ferrari, although as Red Bull team manager Christian Horner later revealed, Mercedes got a concession of a different kind.
But first over to Whitmarsh: "I think we were all a little bit surprised when the regulations changed half-way through P1 and I am sure that put many teams a little bit on the back foot.
"I think the expectation is that when you are off the throttle, the engine throttles would be closed. But there has been a negotiation and, as I understand, Renault's throttles are 50 per cent open under braking. That's been a little bit of a revelation."
Horner hit back by pointing out that the Mercedes engine, as used by McLaren, has been allowed to continue running 'off throttle' fuel ignition, which provides a similar boost to the exhaust gases.
Horner explained the evolution of the off-throttle rule saga as follows:
"First of all there was a technical directive which effectively turned [any off-throttle opening] off. Certain teams were then allowed to fuel their overrun, of which there are also, obviously, secondary benefits through the exhaust plumes and thrusts that that creates.
"Renault presented their position to the FIA and demonstrated that, for purposes of throttle blip and reliability, cold air blowing open throttle was a necessary part of the operation of their engine, otherwise it would cause serious issues.
"It would be unfair to allow fire overrun and not allow the same parameters for another engine manufacturer."
But Whitmarsh believes the Renault concession is out of proportion compared with the fuelling and that the other manufacturers will now need to develop their own version of the Renault 'cold blowing' system to avoid losing out.
"At the moment, I think potentially a lot of teams will end up making the argument to cold blow," he said. "Renault have been in that domain for some time, other teams haven't and don't have that experience, but we're talking about a very substantial performance benefit..."
"Why is it any more of a performance benefit than fired overrun?" countered Horner. "If you can operate your engine in the same way as the Renault, then you are welcome to do it. The secondary effect… I think it is wrong to suggest that there is a benefit beyond that."
"But clearly if you've got, under braking, your throttles open 50 per cent then it's a reasonable benefit," insisted Whitmarsh. "There's a lot of gas going through and I imagine that all engines will end up doing that, which I think isn't what was envisaged.
"The fact that we are having this discussion [shows] it's messy and I think the intention people believed was that we were going to stop exhaust blowing when the driver didn't have his foot on the throttle.
"I think that was the simple concept, but that concept has been deflected and therefore it hasn't been clear and the fact that these things were only coming out during the course of today is fairly extraordinary.
"I think a lot of people are clearly getting emotional about the situation and I can understand why: it's frustrating for the engineers not to know what it is that we're allowed to do.
"By cold blowing you're getting 30, 40 points of extra rear downforce in braking and that's quite an attractive thing, so if you can do it, then you're going to try to do it, aren't you?"
"Let's not make any mistake here, that firing on overrun, the thrust that that generates through the exhaust creates a bigger effect, so let's just be absolutely clear on that," claimed Horner.
"As far as we understood, before Renault were allowed their parameters, there was a significant advantage going to any Mercedes-powered team.
"As you can see, it's a massively complex subject. I think the one thing that Martin and I will agree on is that it should have been addressed at the end of the year, but unfortunately, here we are."
Friday's on-track action was somewhat less eventful, with rain producing two wet practice sessions. Webber was fastest in the morning with Ferrari's Felipe Massa on top in the afternoon.
Final practice and qualifying takes place on Saturday.
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