Why tweaks - not major changes - expected to F1's rules
Discussions will centre primarily on energy management of the new power-units, which have a 50-50 split between internal combustion and electrical power. The demand for large amounts of electrical energy combined with relatively small batteries has led to the cars being energy starved on a fundamental level. In addition to the introduction of the new 'overtake' and 'boost' modes, which give drivers extra electrical energy to use in on-track battles, this has had a superficially positive effect on racing.
It has produced a number of examples of on-track fights that continue for several laps, with drivers swapping positions a number of times. However, drivers have criticised the artificial nature of some of the overtakes, when one car has electrical power to deploy and one does not. And it has led to criticisms from drivers that the skills required in qualifying have been diminished by the need to recover energy, especially in some of the sport's most demanding fast corners.
One example of this is drivers needing to "lift and coast" - lifting off the throttle and letting the car roll before braking for a corner - on qualifying laps on some circuits. Others would be recovering energy through high-speed corners so the cars are no longer on the limit of grip, or so-called "zero-kilowatt zones", where teams are allowed - and therefore often choose - not to deploy electrical energy. One of these was in the Esses at Suzuka in Japan - considered one of the most demanding sections of race track anywhere in the world.
These are among a series of complexities drivers consider are preventing them expressing their ability to drive to the limit, which in normal situations would mean braking as late as possible for corners, going through them as fast as possible, and getting on to the throttle at the earliest feasible opportunity. Four-time champion Max Verstappen has gone as far as to admit he is considering his future in the sport because he no longer finds driving the cars enjoyable. There are also safety concerns, primarily related to the large speed differentials that can arise when one car is deploying energy and one recovering.
In that scenario, there is almost a 500bhp difference in power output from the two cars in question. Briton Oliver Bearman incurred a 50G impact and suffered a right knee contusion when he crashed his Haas at the Japanese Grand Prix The discussions this week will focus on some of the technical complexities of the new rules that are involved in creating these scenarios. Some are relatively simple to explain, others are highly complicated.