No off-throttle concession for Red Bull at Silverstone
The clampdown on off-throttle blown diffusers remained the talk of the paddock on Saturday morning after the FIA effectively removed a concession that had been granted for Friday practice to Red Bull and the other teams using Renault engines. However, that concession could be at least partially reinstated from the next round in Germany.
From this weekend’s Silverstone meeting onwards, teams are restricted to a 10 percent throttle opening under braking, although an element of fired overrun is still allowed, if required in the interests of engine reliability.
That fired overrun ‘exception’ was agreed prior to the weekend and some believe it could benefit those using Mercedes engines relative to their Renault-powered rivals, as it effectively allows them to retain a degree of ‘hot blowing’ when drivers are off-throttle.
The design of Renault’s V8 means they can make no use of the fired overrun exception, but on Friday they were granted a separate concession allowing them a 50 percent throttle opening under braking, also in the interests of engine reliability.
However, on Saturday morning that concession effectively disappeared when the FIA issued a new technical directive, stating that the original 10 percent limit would be applied to all teams for the remainder of the weekend, with the fired overrun still permitted.Red Bull’s Christian Horner and Adrian Newey went to discuss the issue with the FIA at the start of final practice. Race director Charlie Whiting subsequently called an extraordinary meeting of team technical representatives prior to qualifying.
After that meeting Horner told assembled media that although the 10 percent limit would be retained for all teams this weekend, he hoped some sort of Renault concession would be agreed for the remainder of the season.
Credit: Formula One Administration Ltd (www.formula1.com)
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