The two mandatory stops and the increase in minimum weight rejected
We saw it on Monday, December 9, decisions, contested or not depending on one's point of view, were adopted by the Formula 1 Commission and the Strategy Group. However, two proposed measures hit a wall with the teams.
First and foremost, it was the idea from Pirelli to require the cars to stop at least twice per race that faced a firm and massive veto from the teams. The Italian manufacturer wanted the hardest compounds brought to a Grand Prix to be used only for 50% of the race and the soft compounds for 30%. A quick calculation therefore led to two mandatory pit stops. A measure that, apparently, did not please the teams. Ross Brawn, former director of Mercedes, stated to Autosport that it would not be a good thing to have such a restriction on strategy.
Pirelli had put forward this idea because it is complicated for them to offer F1 teams tires with the best endurance-performance compromise, while also ensuring the more numerous pit stops desired by the FIA. The episode of tire explosions at Silverstone plunged the discipline into doubt over the Italian rubber. The Italians have already stated that the tires for 2014 would be very conservative, meaning less tire degradation. Nevertheless, the officialization of the tests conducted in Bahrain from December 17 to 19 seems to lean towards more compromise on the thorny issue of tires and safety.
10 kg is too much!
In addition to this aborted measure, the masterminds of F1 had considered increasing the weight of the cars by 10 kg. While Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren, Lotus, and Williams spoke with one voice on mandatory stops, only Ferrari, Lotus, and Mercedes rejected the idea of the weight increase. This additional ballast was desired by some teams to avoid penalizing heavier drivers, even though today, drivers are generally lightweight, with larger builds posing some problems for engineers.
The teams therefore have control over certain decisions. Lotus, for example, still has a say, even though we saw on Monday the 9th, the Enstone team will be absent from the tire tests in December in Bahrain, a sign that not everything is going very well with the Black and Gold. It’s been more than 170 days that we’re waiting for confirmation of the agreement with Quantum. A very long wait.
