FIA Technical Directive 15: Use of exhaust blown gasses to be restricted (or not, as the case may be)

3.15 eh. Dear oh dear. You could ban anything you wanted under that.

The timing is odd, and possibly malicious, but the FIA are fully entitled to issue clarifications to ensure compliance with the rules as written. Whether this one would stand up in a court of law I doubt, but it won't come to that.

I'm going to stick my neck out here and say it won't make a blind bit of difference to the competitive order. There's a trade-off with the extra fuel to be carried to feed these systems, after all.
 
Galahad said:
Whether this one would stand up in a court of law I doubt, but it won't come to that.
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Indeed.

On what planet can this be classed as a moveable aero device?

Actually, if it was against the reg's then it would be banned outright.
So under what rule are the FIA able to force it to 10%?

Anyone know?
 
Czar on 606 has just posted this:

The proposal came at the TWG meeting, the meeting in which FOTA rejected quite a few of the tech' regs' for 2013, the regs' that were aimed at more efficient use of fuel.
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So it is indeed the FIA retaliating at the teams and it bizarrely comes under some sort of fuel efficiency directive.

I can see this power play getting more intense before the new Concorde agreement is finally signed.
 
I've just read through this thread and I think a couple of people have misunderstood the implications of this new ruling. It doesn't meant that the use of the EBD goes down to 10%, the EBD will still be used at 100% of its use when the driver has his foot on the throttle. All it means is that, whereas in recent times (and in RB's case - for a long time), some teams have been feeding exhaust gasses into the diffuser even when they are not on the throttle (e.g. under braking), using a retarded ignition switch, this is now not allowed, or at least has been limited to 10% of its potential use.

It's worth noting that when Red Bull first introduced the EBD in early 2010 without full off-throttle exhaust flow, Mark Webber was usually on top of Vettel in qualifying, or at least very close to him, because he was able to handle the unstable car better with the sudden loss in downforce when coming off throttle. Later on in the season, RB perfected their solution to allow an automatic system that keeps exhaust flowing even when off throttle and this played back into Vettel's hands, who has had an advantage over Webber ever since. I wonder if we could see Webber being right back in the mix after this ruling.

Another interesting point, is that McLaren really struggling with their EBD from its introduction at Silverstone last year until Spa came around, when they'd managed to get off-throttle exhaust flow working. The very distinctive sound when the McLaren went round the final S bend before the pit straight was very noticeable. I think McLaren will also be heavily effected by this. I think McLaren and Red Bull will be hurt the most, and it could even put Ferrari and Mercedes infront of them!
 
FOTA: "We don't want underbody downforce!"

FIA: "Ok... be like that. No underbody downforce it is then."

Tit for tat? I wonder.
 
tranquility2k9 said:
I've just read through this thread and I think a couple of people have misunderstood the implications of this new ruling. It doesn't meant that the use of the EBD goes down to 10%, the EBD will still be used at 100% of its use when the driver has his foot on the throttle. All it means is that, whereas in recent times (and in RB's case - for a long time), some teams have been feeding exhaust gasses into the diffuser even when they are not on the throttle (e.g. under braking), using a retarded ignition switch, this is now not allowed, or at least has been limited to 10% of its potential use.
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I don't think there was too much of a misunderstanding, but you make it clear. Although I'm confused on one issue:

Does this not mean that as a result of only being able to use 10% of the retarded ignition, they will try to replace some of that 90% with actual driver throttle input? Surely it would be dangerous for the FIA to limit actual driver throttle input? These are RWD cars after all.
 
Some kinda comedy going on here! I could just as well post this in the other thread about ground effect as the issues are related, in fact I'm going to be cheeky and put it there as well. I will not be displeased if the Mod's tell me off for doing so.

I may be wrong but I was under the impression that the effect of the EBD was to speed up airflow through the diffuser and therefore beneath the car increasing ground effect.

The main issue facing cars travelling in the dirty air of another in front is the reduction in efficiency of the front wing. So, if EBD 's are restricted and therefore less efficient in conferring downforce via ground effect, it then it falls back to good old aero' downforce from the wings.

The net effect of this ruling then, is loss of downforce overall as the front wing will need to be shallower to reduce front downforce to compensate for the losses at the rear and the resultant oversteer. The consequences are lower cornering speeds and more vulnerability to the turbulant wake of the car ahead.

Brilliant! The FIA have basically said "okay if you don't to mess with your floors and get more ground effect, then we'll take away some of what little ground effect you've got. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!"
 
FIA : "Hey guys we're going to need you to change your engine maps with a week worth's notice. That okay?"
Teams : "It'll be tough but yeah, okay."

A week later

FIA : "Alright so how are you getting on with modifying your EBDs and stuff."
Teams : "Not too bad, yeah."
Rumour : FIA will ban engine map blown diffuser things
Confirmed : FIA will ban engine map blown diffuser things
Teams : "This is an outrage! The first we've heard of this!"
FIA : "Uhh.. hold on. The public caught wind of this stupid, unnecessary and overdue change? Oh. Better keep it quiet for another week. Quick, destroy those papers Jean."
 
Obviously something has gone on between the Tweet which was sent this morning (and then hurriedly deleted), the Autosport piece later in the day and tonight.

I suppose we'll never know quite what went on.
 
Hmmm, they must have detected me and thousands of other peep's scouring the FIA website for a copy of the directive! Without success I might add. AND I've just blown away twenty minutes deciding what to contribute the discussion and typing it up with my cromagnon fingers!:givemestrength:
 
A high level source indicated that the decision had been taken because a number of 'unforeseen and unintended consequences' of the ban had been brought to the FIA's attention.
It is not clear what these consequences were, but teams that had benefited the most from the blown diffuser regulations may have complained about potential difficulties that they may have faced in making necessary changes to car set-up in such a short space of time.
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http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/91481

What's to betting those 'unforeseen and unintended consequences' involved several teams telling the FIA they wouldn't be able to race this weekend?
 
Well I'm happy it's sticking around for now, but less than happy with the dilly-dallying by the FIA.
 
I think the McLaren engineer who let it out on twitter could be showing that the McLaren guys were quite optimistic about how this would improve their performance in qualifying relative to Red Bull. Especially as the engineer tweeted a rather smug sounding tweet about how "qualifying will be interesting this weekend".

I wouldn't be surprised if Red Bull have complained as Horner definitely sounded a bit annoyed by the change in the regulations in his short interview on the matter.

I personally don't see how their can be these "unforeseen and unintended consequences". All that would happen is that teams wouldn't be able to go quite as fast round corners as they'd lack downforce, it wouldn't make the cars unsafe - the drivers would just have to go a little slower or learn to handle them better. HRT and Virgin have managed to drive their cars around without any EBD whatsoever.
 
Agreed tranquility, it all seems a little dramatic at this late hour.

I can't believe that the set up differences are really that much different so there's definitely more to the story than we're being told.

There's no doubt in my mind that Red Bull qualifying would have been most affected.
How thoroughly disappointing; I was looking forward to seeing how it would affect the various teams this weekend.
 
Dear God.What a bloody farce.
How the hell can the FIA and their advisors fail to understand the implications of such a ban, when we us ordinary fans not "experts" could clearly see them.
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr words fail me.
 
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