F1 pre-season testing: Stefano Domenicali calls for calm in face of criticism of new rules
F1’s bosses agreed at a meeting of the F1 Commission rules-making body on Wednesday they would assess data from this final test at a further meeting to decide whether action needed to be taken in the short term.
Concern arises from the fact the new engine rules have tripled the power provided by the electrical part of the engine but left the batteries more or less the same size as last year, and removed one of the devices used to recover energy.
This had led to cars that are energy starved and forced the teams to find new ways to harvest sufficient electrical energy to produce the best performance. The rules governing energy recovery are also highly complex.
That in turn has required drivers to perform behaviours that have been described as “counter-intuitive” to optimise lap time.
These include not going flat out put of the final corner before a qualifying lap, lifting and coasting on a qualifying lap, and even not accelerating at full power at the end of a lap because it was more advantageous to use the energy elsewhere.
However, drivers have generally been positive on the handling characteristics of the new cars, and a number of top drivers all told BBC Sport they are still driving to the limit of grip, and driver ability will still be as crucial as ever.
Domenicali said: “Don’t be worried about the energy management. We’re going to solve that. If we need to solve it, by the way.”
He has spent his time in Bahrain having a series of discussions with individual drivers about the sport, including Verstappen.
And he added: “Max wants and does care about Formula 1 more than anyone else. He has a way of putting the point that he wants to say in a certain way.
“Max will be part of the future of Formula 1 and of course it’s very important that we listen to him and all the top drivers that are very important in this sport.”
Domenicali also said F1 was looking at introducing new sporting elements on Fridays, expanding on the approach that led to sprint-race weekends, which feature two qualifying sessions rather than one, and a shorter race on the Saturday in addition to the grand prix on Sunday.
He has already previously said F1 is considering increasing the number of sprint events beyond the current six.
Domenicali added: “Feedback from the fans, from the people attending the track, the promoter, [is] that people want to see action, real action during the three days.
“People want to see already on Friday something that is sporting – qualifying, points, whatever it is.
“So, it is true that there is the trend to go in the direction of, even if it is not a sprint every weekend.”
