Over the last few years, the theme of the so-called “B teams” has been a recurring topic. This year, thanks to the financial limits introduced with the budget cap and the additional limitations on the hours to be spent in the wind tunnel and at the CFD, the top teams will greatly benefit from sharing data with partner teams.
The relationship between Haas and Ferrari has been one of the most controversial since the US team landed in Formula 1 and returned to great relevance when the VF-22, the single-seater that will be entrusted to Mick Schumacher this year, was presented. and to the returning Kevin Magnussen.
Andreas Seidl spoke about the “B teams” issue not making specific reference to Haas, but asking for a general clarification on this situation.
“At the moment we are focused on our car, so I can’t talk specifically about the Haas and Ferrari cars, for example, but it’s no secret that these collaborations allowed within the rules are a concern for us.”
“For this reason I am of the opinion that in the future these collaborations must be regulated in order to ensure that Formula 1 returns to being a championship with 10, 11 or 12 real constructors. From my point of view, the only possible sharing should be that relating to the power unit and the gearbox, while all the rest must be done independently “.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36
Photo by: Motorsport Images
“We know that as soon as you go beyond this exchange you have a data transfer that becomes relevant to improve the performance of the car. For this reason we are continuously bringing this topic to the attention together with other teams who have the same fears ”.
“We have also opened a dialogue with the FIA and I hope that at some point we can make progress because it is necessary to define with certainty the limit of what can be shared between the teams”.
The same fears were expressed by the new Alpine team principal, Otmar Szafnauer, who pointed to the sharing of wind tunnel data.
“The main concern is that teams that share wind tunnels may share more as well. Especially if they are team partners, between one break and another, the engineers can ask how the tested solutions have behaved and this is not good ”.
When it was pointed out to him that in the past many have doubted the collaboration relationship between Mercedes and Aston Martin, Szafnauer has clearly denied any transfer of data.
“At that time it didn’t happen and our aerodynamicists didn’t go for a coffee with the Mercedes ones, but this hypothesis could be accepted if the engineers use the same wind tunnel and have lunch at the same canteen. In our case this did not happen ”.
“We had the opportunity to use the wind tunnel on weekends, while Mercedes used it on other days and the respective aerodynamics never met.”
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