By Renault F1 Site Staff
March 17 2004

What's new on the Renault F1 R24 by Pat Symonds. TechnicalBriefing

TECHNICAL BRIEFING,
Pat Symonds

"Although there aren’t as many change as in 2003, there are still some significant modifications to how F1 will run in 2004. The winter has seen some new items appear in both the technical and the sporting regulations. The FIA’s objective has once again been to guarantee the best possible spectacle and driver safety. Executive Director of Engineering Pat Symonds ran us through the most important changes. - The minimum size of the engine cover and rear wing endplates has been increased. What’s more, the number of elements in the rear wing has been limited to just two. “This change is the reason behind the distinctive shape of our engine cover, and the profile of the rear wing,” explains Pat. “Originally, limiting the number of planes in the rear wing brought about a loss in aerodynamic efficiency of around 6%, but our work in the wind tunnel means the car actually has more downforce than in 2003.” - Engines: each driver must use the same engine from Friday morning until Sunday evening. If there is a failure before qualifying, the driver will lose ten places on the grid; if this happens after the start of qualifying, he will have to start from the back on Sunday. “The team has been working on this constraint for just over a year now,” confirms Pat. “We completed five weekend distances in testing without problems.” - Electronics: launch control and automatic gearchanges have been banned. Traction control stays. The FIA will place a black box recorder in every car to ensure fair play. “The drivers must control the accelerator and clutch at the start,” explains Pat. “Jarno and Fernando have had plenty of practice ahead of Melbourne.” - Pitlane: the maximum speed in race conditions has been increased to 100kph. “In cases where the theoretical difference between a two and three stop strategy was minimal in 2003, this could make the difference.” Procedures: - New timings: free practice on Friday will now be held from 11:00 – 12:00 and 14:00 – 15:00 local time. During this session, the teams that finished below fourth in last year’s championship will be allowed to use a third car. This is allowed to feature a different livery to the race cars. The driver of this car is not allowed to have competed in more than six Grands Prix in the last two years. Saturday free practice will be held from 10:00 – 10:45 and 11:15 – 12:00 local time. “The new regulations bring us back to a similar situation to 2002,” admits Pat. “We will no longer run three cars on a Friday morning, but we have already planned 36 days of testing between Grands Prix. There’s plenty of work ahead.” - Qualifying: the Friday session has disappeared, and in its stead, two qualifying sessions will be held on Saturday afternoon. These will only be separated by two minutes. In the first, the drivers will run in the finishing order of the previous race (at Melbourne, Suzuka 2003 results will be used), for a single timed lap. In the second, they will start in the reverse order of the first session’s classification, again for a single lap. This final session alone determines grid positions. “It means that we will have to be able to react extremely quickly,” explains Pat. “If there is a problem or incident during the first session, we will have to alter our race strategy in the space of a few minutes. Like in 2003, we will be unable to make significant changes to the cars between the end of qualifying and the start of the race.”