Changes yes, but with caution
Immediately after the end of the Australian GP in Melbourne the race started – by those who had not liked some aspect of the race – for the rrules to be modifiedAnd. So there are those who have called for a change in the relationship between thermal and electric engines, those who loudly ask for a reduction in exploitable energy to avoid super-clipping, who still point the finger at starts and their danger. The Haas team principal had a different opinion, Ayao Komatsuwho invited everyone to calm down. The Japanese manager said he was open to interventions on the newly introduced regulation, but only as long as they take place after ‘tested’ a significant sample of tracks. In fact, his fear is that, by acting too quickly, we risk making the situation even worse, rather than improving it.
The risk is doing damage
“Two races is still a very limited sample – warned Komatsu, speaking to journalists present in China – we also talked about it at a meeting of the F1 Commission in Bahrain and we said to ourselves that we definitely shouldn’t react impulsively. Because if we have to change something, we should only change it once to fix it permanently. Some things depend a lot on the type of circuit – continued the number one of the Haas team – And as regards overtaking, even in the previous generation of cars Melbourne and Suzuka were two tracks where it was very difficult to overtake. In Shanghai it’s slightly easier. Bahrain, if you were to race in Bahrain, would be a much easier circuit to overtake at. In my opinion we need to wait until we have tackled several circuits and then decide. Then we can think about what the global problem is and what we need to focus on to solve it. Because if we did it after only one or two events I think we wouldn’t be able to have a balanced opinion, with enough feedback. Approximately we have to wait at least five races“.
Komatsu extends this reasoning to those who, like George Russell, would like to change the regulatory procedure that defines the formation lap and the start: “Let’s not rush to react impulsively – reiterated the number one on the Haas wall – because that would be the worst thing we could do. If something changes, the engineers have to learn the new things, the pilots have to learn the new things. And then ‘oh, but look, we have a new unintended consequence. Now there’s a new problem and we have to change everything again.’ We don’t do that. We observe and let the teams learn, because we are learning fast. Not just us, everyone. Give the drivers some stability, so they can adapt to this new regulation. Imagine if we changed the formation lap now, moving the goalposts. What would we be doing? I’m sure if you have these impulsive reactions, you will have unwanted consequences. So that’s exactly what we need to avoid“.
