Loophole allows Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes to develop their engines throughout 2015

Loophole allows Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes to develop their engines throughout 2015

It was announced last weekend that a loophole in F1’s regulations is set to allow Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes to develop their engines throughout the 2015 season.

Engine development was a hot topic in the latter months of 2014 as Ferrari and Renault pushed to have the engine freeze lifted in a bid to close the gap to Mercedes. And although that never materialised, a loophole in the regulations means they will be permitted to develop their units throughout this year’s Championship.

Poor wording in the technical regulations failed to set a specific date for when permitted changes to their 2014 engines – made post season – would need to stop in 2015.

On Saturday, an FIA spokesman told the media the following:-
'It was always envisaged, although not explicitly stated in the rules, that manufacturers would have to deal with modifications on the engine within the constraints of the rules, and then submit their 2015 engine [at the first race]. It is simple, but when you read it [the rule book], it doesn’t say that unfortunately.'

This loophole, though, will not apply to McLaren’s new engine partner Honda. With Honda returning to Formula 1 in 2015, Honda will have to lodge their engine before the first race of this season and won’t be permitted to make any chances until the end of the Championship.

In conclusion, all you can say is that all of the Formula One teams and the engine manufacturers will always ensure that they find an advantage that their rivals may not be able to achieve in accordance with the Sporting Regulations, even if we have seen cases of this not happening over the years.

From what the FIA spokesperson stated to the media last Saturday, it is clear that they have found a loophole in the regulations that the FIA has agreed to and that either of the three engine manufacturers would not be penalised if they decided to improve their engines over the course of a season and the FIA should have checked this regulation fully before implementing it in order to avoid this situation happening.

Even though this doesn't affect Honda in their first season of Formula One, it could affect them in the long run, especially if Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault improve further (which they will) and it will be hard for Honda to close the gap fully this season and they will have to wait until 2016 to close the gap down to their rivals.

But the FIA for me are at fault here. They have implemented a regulation that has I will admit does promote equality and that is fair especially with the sport at the moment discussing the costs of competing. But now with this loophole, I feel this will start an engine war between the four manufacturers in order not only to compete but also putting additional funding into the project in order to claim an advantage over their rivals.

But all we can hope for as fans is for the FIA to implement the rule they intended to for this season that allows the fairness and equality that they wanted in the first place and ensure that this regulation does not contain any loopholes. However, with the discovery of his loophole, I feel it is too late for the FIA to correct this issue this season and we might have to wait until 2016 for this issue to be resolved and the FIA will be watching very closely over this season to see just how much of an advantage this provides Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault over the course of the 2015 season.