That the current power units do not even convince a good part of their only supporters is no longer a mystery. In the Formula 1 paddock, thoughts have already begun about the next regulations, with the increasingly concrete hypothesis of a return to a predominantly thermal engine. And also to race refueling.
The idea promoted by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is that of a V8 engine still partly powered by an electric source, but to a much lesser extent. So it could be possible to have a sort of KERS again (system used between 2009 and 2013) enhanced, which would definitively close the era of turbo hybrid engines.
Refueling does not convince
The idea of a return to refueling, promoted in parallel by Sulayem, divides opinion. Many insiders are not convinced that this is the right way to increase the spectacle on track; on the contrary: a return to the past would eliminate part of the strategic unpredictability.
“Race refueling? What would happen is that we could predict precisely when the cars will stop at the pits“, said Williams team principal, James Vowles, at the Zandvoort press conference, which FormulaPassion.it attended.
“It is normal that one would tend to always take the car to the end of its fuel load because that is when it is fastest. This means that you can predict what will happen, strategy of one, two or three stops, whichever it is. And today, with the availability of information that the public has today, everyone will be able to know what will happen“.
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“For me, this solution takes away some of the charm of the races. I think the concept to follow is more about keeping the overall weight of the cars low. Personally, I also think it’s quite hot to wear a racing suit when you’re on the pit wall, so I would prefer not to do it anymore”.
Also Ayao Komatsu, Haas team principal, thinks the same: “Personally, I’m not a big fan of refueling. Even when I watched races from outside, refueling made the race difficult to follow for a spectator sitting in the stands.Same for qualifying. I like that in qualifying the car is the lightest, with the driver giving everything on his lap”.
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Idea already evaluated and discarded
Peter Bayer, CEO of Racing Bulls, pointed out that in recent years the hypothesis of a return to refueling had already been evaluated. “I remember that when I was still working with the FIA, we had a working group with Formula 1, with Ross Brawn and his team, on how to improve entertainment and spectacle. And one of the big ideas of some was the return to refueling“.
“We dug deep into historical footage, into the data we had. What came out, apart from a couple of very spectacular and dangerous images, is that refueling did not add much to the sport because most overtakes suddenly happened in the pit lane“.
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