Expect field to be spread in 2017 says Newey

2017 sees yet more regulation changes for Formula One.

In general terms regulation changes often see one team obtain an early advantage and then Formula One spends months if not years waiting for other teams to then catch-up.

In the past with unlimited testing regulation changes wouldn’t see such a divide for so long, but now with limited time on track it can produce years of teams slowly catching up on a team that gained an advantage from the rule changes.

In 2017 the regulation changes are aerodynamically based.

The idea, on paper is to produce wider cars with bigger tyres so they look more appealing. The sport also want to see faster cars and faster speeds in the corners.

It’s unlikely to improve overtaking, but they’ll look good whilst following eachother in single file…..

One team hoping to improve off the back of the regulations is Red Bull Racing.

In 2016 they were already closing the gap to Mercedes and if any team can benefit from an aerodynamic regulation changes it’s going to be the team that has Adrian Newey as an employee.

The technical chief however believes that surprises can still happen, just like when Brawn GP took a surprise performance advantage through the first half of 2009 which proved to be enough for them to clinch the constructors title and for Jenson Button to claim the 2009 Formula One World Championship.

‘It will almost certainly mean the grid will be a bit more spread out to start with, Whenever there is a regulation change, some teams read the regulations better than others. Typically the big teams, who have the bigger resource, read them better, but when we had the last big regulation change in 2009 that wasn’t the case, it was Brawn and ourselves who read them correctly, and the grandees, then Ferrari and McLaren, who struggled a bit. he told Sky Sports.

‘Whenever you have regulation change, you have lots of ideas which you have to channel down to a direction and a philosophy for the car. Although we are one of the bigger teams we don’t have the resources to look at them all avenues simultaneously.

‘It’s [a case of] ‘this is the avenue we believe is the correct one’ and we hope we are right. There is always the chance that there is an avenue or direction which someone else has taken which is superior.’