F1 teams push on with new 'franchise' car plan

The leaders of the four leading teams met this day in Montreal to talk about the thoughts that came from last month's F1 Strategy Group meeting - having a focus how customer automobiles, or what they currently call 'franchise' automobiles, will operate.
Hosted by McLaren's Ron Dennis, the assembly (pictured left) was also attended by Eric Boullier, Toto Wolff, Niki Lauda, Maurizio Arrivabene and Christian Horner.
Williams and Force India, the other groups in the Method Team, weren't represented. The FIA's Charlie Whiting was likewise invited along for part of the assembly.
Wolff insisted that to day meeting was simply a followup to the May 14 Method Team party, and was designed to refine a few of the theories tabled at that time.
"The mandate of the Method Team was for a number of the groups to take a seat and discuss possible paths of customer automobiles versus third automobiles, the the guidelines and ordinances for 2017," Wolff advised Motorsport.com.
"This is a structured strategy, and we happen to be discussing a number of the problems. It turned out to be an excellent assembly. It is crucial that you get it right, and for that reason all the options and options were discussed, also it must be handled in an excellent manner."
Red Bull team chief Christian Horner also discussed to Motorsport.com after the meeting.
"We had a mandate in the Strategy Team to discuss several things," the Red Bull leader told Motorsport.com. "All of the conversations for future years were favorable, so pleasant to find out the teams were on the exact same page for once.
"Consumer automobiles are something I Have supported to get several years now. It is to provide an option if teams actually get themselves in to problems. They are able to concentrate on truly being a race team.
"I believe it will be a wholesome point for both an existing group or a fresh team entering the sport."
For consumer automobiles read 'franchise'
Wolff first utilized the expression 'franchise' automobiles in Monaco, and he explained the phrase has been formally embraced.
"We contact them franchise automobiles," he stated. "I believe we must really have a contingency plan set up to say what the results are in case a team or 2 drops out? What do we do?
"I believe we do not need to be in front of the snake - 'oh-my-god, now we're down to 18 automobiles or 16 autos.'
"We expect that everything remains like it's, and they [the fighting teams] can allow it to be commercially feasible for themselves. Nevertheless, you should be accountable enough for Formula 1 to say, 'What occurs if?'
"We should discuss options, like how can it be feasible when it comes to the sport and specialized regs? Who is planning to buy it or who is planning to fund it?
"Who is likely to provide automobiles? Do we need to possess standard providers entering, or do we need to do it ourselves? Can last-year's automobiles enter or maybe not? Down to the depth, like who is planning to go on the podium? We have also mentioned the disadvantages. We do not need to have junior groups.
"All people are responsible enough that people should consider another years. Right now we expect it remains like it's."
Finding an excellent consensus
Wolff states that while there were distinct suggestions on the best way to advance, the assembly proved to be a favorable one.
"I believe we'd extremely great discussions that aren't 'real', as it is not occurring, but we must really have a contingency set up," he added. "There are various thoughts and various views, but we sort of had a multiple-choice, and we discovered a decent consensus on all the matters."
He affirmed that Bernie Ecclestone's thought to get a 'GP1'-fashion package to be supplied by a 3rd party has lost impetus: "I presume the way ahead which we including Bernie see at the present time is that the constructors needs to have the ability to provide cars to concerned parties, somewhat than having just one supply of chassis provider."
Planning forward for 2017
Another crucial issue discussed nowadays was how F1 cars should appear in 2017.
"We talked in regards to the ordinances we've determined on for 2017, broader tyres, broader automobiles," Wolff stated. "We mentioned, 'Are these automobiles appealing?' Or if not, do we need to handle it from a layout side, or do we need to handle it from a specialized aspect?
"Do we need to say those automobiles need to be five seconds faster and they simply happen to seem like they do from a technical standpoint, that's my view? Or do we need to talk about some layout theories and say this is the way the car must appear, which isn't likely to make it faster."

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06.06.2015
ID:2213

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