SEPTEMBER 2, 2005

Mosley plans downforce rethink

FIA President Max Mosley was in Monza to announce an agreement between the FIA and AMD to give the international automobile federation the capability of carrying out computational fluid dynamic testing to try to find solutions to the problems which mean that the F1 cars are so aerodynamically-sensitive that overtaking is impossible at some race tracks.

Mosley took the opportunity to talk about the plans for rules in 2008 and revealed that the federation plans to rethink the question of downforce and rather than trying to restrict the downforce with the dimensions of the cars to declare the amount of downforce allowable and then develop a test to ensure that the teams do not use more.

The other plans mentioned were pretty much in line what was expected given the recent discussions between the FIA and the teams although there remain some areas, notably electronic control units, where the two sides do not agree.