The FIA introduces new flow meters at Silverstone

During the Australian Grand Prix, the FIA’s flow meters took center stage with the disqualification of Daniel Ricciardo, who could have enjoyed the best result of his career at the time. Red Bull had based its defense on the belief that the Federation’s sensor was not reliable enough and that it preferred its own sensor. These arguments did not convince the FIA, which upheld the penalty.

During a press briefing at the Silverstone Grand Prix, Charlie Whiting, the FIA race director, stated that such issues are quite normal during this kind of radical transformation: “I think with every new system, you need to cut your teeth on it. There were a few issues during the first race, but it has improved a lot.”

But in order to avoid new complaints in the future, the FIA has decided to present an improved version of these sensors starting this weekend: « Here, we are introducing new internal software on two sensors per team. We hope this will solve the problem. We believe that this issue stems from the cold fuel being added to the car, especially during qualifying when the car comes back to the pits, and fuel is added that completely changes the temperature. Hopefully, this new software will resolve the issue. »

This improvement is only a first step since the FIA will go so far as to offer two different flowmeters from two different suppliers so that teams can choose the one that suits them best: « We know that a company is trying to develop a sensor. If they meet our regulatory requirements, we will be able to approve it and the teams will then have the choice. »

This will not give the Australian from Red Bull his second place back, but it at least has the merit of addressing a recognized flaw.

From our special correspondent in Silverstone