Regulation changes within Formula One often act to shuffle the pack, as some teams benefit from the changes and others are left struggling to recover.
Down the years, technological advancement enabled teams to find an advantage over their rivals.
In the 1990’s, this was Williams with the aid of electronics, in the 2000’s it was Ferrari, in the mid 2000’s it was Red Bull Racing.
All saw periods of dominance within the sport.
Then regulations changes gave teams a chance to steal a march on their rivals, most notably in 2009 when Brawn GP dominated the early part of the season.
Jenson Button was able to get the best of team-mate Rubens Barrichello and by the time the other teams had caught up, both Brawn and Button had still done enough to wrap up the championships.
In the switch to the new V6 Turbo-Hybrid era, Mercedes got the better of both Ferrari and Renault which has seen Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg win the drivers titles and Mercedes take three consecutive constructors titles.
In 2017 a regulation change which puts more emphasis on aerodynamic design as oppose to engine performance, is hoped to see Red Bull Racing end Mercedes period of dominance.
Other teams are also hoping to improve their current place on the grid.
But Williams performance chief Rob Smedley believes it’s more likely fans will see a continuation of the status-quo.
?I hope it?s going to shake things up a bit but I don?t think we?ll have a complete change in pecking order,? he was quoted by motorsport.com.
?It?s really important you get more people up in that top group and we?re starting the weekend with it not being entirely clear who is going to win the race – that is what turns the fans off.
?If you go into it thinking four or five drivers can win here, that?s really exciting and I hope that?s what the new regulations do for us.?
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