F1 team technical heads warned on Friday that F1 "does not need to rip up the rule book and try to fix something that is not broken," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. Williams Head of Vehicle Performance Rob Smedley said, "I think we should leave it alone, in the main. We should perhaps think about
stopping tampering with it rather than thinking we are going to create a
new set of rules and that is going to fix everything." Smedley, whose former team Ferrari has called for a "revolution in the sport," said that every rule change
"ultimately favored those with the biggest resources and led to big gaps
in performance." Mercedes Technical Head Paddy Lowe,
whose title-winning team has "enjoyed the dominant engine since the
introduction of the new V6 turbo hybrid last year, agreed the sport
should tread carefully." Lowe: "In terms of rules changes, it's not absolutely clear we need to change the cars radically" (REUTERS, 5/8). REUTERS' Baldwin reported in a separate piece Red Bull's hopes of "staving off
engine penalties this season look doomed, with teams set to reject a
proposal to increase the allocation per driver from four to five" when
F1's strategy group meets next week. While Mercedes is "willing to agree, even if it erodes their advantage, the independent teams that pay the German manufacturer for
engines appear opposed." Force India Deputy Team Principal Bob Fernley said that his team would "resist anything that
increased costs, while sources at Williams indicated it would make no
sense for them to help rivals close the performance gap" (REUTERS, 5/8).
WOLFF OPTIMISTIC: Baldwin reported in a separate piece Williams driver Susie Wolff is confident that "tighter new super license regulations will not get in the way of her bid" to become the first female F1 racer in 40 years should the opportunity arise. She "took part in first practice for Williams at the Spanish Grand Prix on Friday with the 14th fastest time, quicker than struggling McLaren's world champions Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button." At present Wolff lacks the necessary super license to compete but she said "that was not her biggest obstacle" (REUTERS, 5/8).
