2014: An opportunity to surprise … or to fail

For the 2014 season, the teams had to deal with many regulatory changes, and while some observers believe this might somewhat reshuffle the cards, Claire Williams – deputy team principal of Williams F1 – hopes this will happen even though she remains cautious.

The daughter of the team’s founder, Sir Frank Williams, hopes that this will allow her team to lift its head, but she does not expect miracles as she confided to Autosport: « It’s really timely because if you don’t have this kind of regulatory change, it would be much more difficult to try to improve year on year. I don’t think the form will change very significantly, but it offers an opportunity for teams that are a second or more off the pace to study what they’re doing and see how to do things differently. That’s what we’re trying to do, and all the changes made this year have been done to make the best use of the resources we have to understand next year’s changes. »

In 2013, the Grove team finished 9th in the constructors’ championship with only five points on the board, and the goal is to improve in 2014. Claire Williams believes that the arrival of Felipe Massa will be a great help because the Brazilian has the experience needed to grow the team: « One of the things that really impressed us when we started talking with Felipe is his enthusiasm to help the team and drive performance. He was so excited about it, and that’s what we wanted. It’s about coming to the factory as much as possible, constantly talking with the engineers. So yes, of course, we expect him to do that on the tracks, but we also expect him to do work at the factory for development. »

If the F1 in 2014 can be an opportunity for midfield teams to get closer to the front, it is also a turn that needs to be carefully negotiated by the top teams on the grid who do not want to make mistakes and consequently fall down in the hierarchy, according to Pat Fry, the technical director of Scuderia Ferrari.

Fry estimates, as quoted by Autosport, that it is going to be complicated for the different teams to properly cool their cars with the new 1.6L Turbo V6 combined with two recovery systems, and this could cause teams that haven’t calculated things well to lose time: « I think it’s one of those years where you need to develop your car rather than focusing on solving your cooling issues. At the beginning of each year, when you don’t manage cooling well, a lot of your resources are put into modifying radiators, bodywork, and all that. »

I am certain that we have done it here [at Ferrari] in the past and we have also done it in my previous team [McLaren] in the past, where we were losing in the first months. With the changes in 2014, it will be even more dramatic – and the opportunities to miss out will be numerous.

But Pat Fry hopes that the entire design office in Maranello got it right: « I hope we’ve done the right calculations, but there will be many people racking their brains in January. »

The Briton also believes that the focus should not only be on cooling but also on the front wing in particular: « The front wing and the way you manage the flaps must be different. It’s a bit like when we went too far with the front wing [in 2009]. It was a disaster to start with, but then you solve the problem. »