Formula One’s governing body on Thursday said it was tweaking its energy management rules for the Japanese Grand Prix qualifying to allow drivers to push harder.
The maximum energy teams will be allowed to harvest from their hybrid power units to recharge their batteries during Saturday’s grid-deciding session will be reduced to 8 megajoules (MJ) from 9 MJ, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement. The change, agreed following unanimous support of the sport’s power unit manufacturers, means drivers will be able to push more and focus less on recovering energy.
Speaking to reporters at the Suzuka circuit on Thursday, they said they would only know how much of a difference it would make once they had driven their cars.
“I think it will eliminate some things and it will shift around some other bits,” said McLaren’s reigning world champion Lando Norris.
“It’s not like it’s going to change the whole world.
“Honestly, I need to go and drive on track first and understand it,” he added.
Formula One has introduced sweeping new rules this year, with the hybrid power units in the cars now split near 50-50 between electric and combustion power.
Drivers, as a result, are having to tactically “lift and coast”, easing off the throttle early and coasting into a corner, so the combustion engine can recharge the battery.
They are also having to contend with “super-clipping” where the power unit automatically diverts energy from the engine to the battery, slowing down the car even if the driver is flat on the throttle.
The new rules have spiced up the wheel-to-wheel action in the first two races.
But critics say they have taken some of the thrill away from the usually flat-out qualifying laps by turning them into a test of battery management rather than driver skill and courage.
“Going to 8 MJ probably helps a tiny bit,” said Red Bull’s four-times world champion Max Verstappen, one of the strongest critics of the new rules.
“But the basics are the same… that is of course very different to the past.”
Source: Khaleej Times