Force India says it should, if so who will lose or gain the most?
McLaren and Red Bull were certainly struggling at Silverstone, but was that just the diffuser blowing or because engine tech also couldn't cope with the quick rule changes imposed? Force India will be one of the big beneficiaries of the decision to ban exhaust-blown diffusers in Formula 1, reckons the team's technical chief Andrew Green. Although the Silverstone-based outfit finished sixth in last year's constructors' championship, Green felt it did not get properly on top of the exhaust-blowing technology so will lose far less from the ban than many rivals.
"We were a little bit late to the party and I don't think we extracted its full potential by a long way," said Green. "I think there are teams out there that extracted way more than we did and hopefully that will hurt them more than it's going to hurt us. We spent the winter trying to salvage back all that downforce that it cost us and we're getting closer."
He believes that the rule change will make F1 more competitive overall. "My feeling is that it should close the field up," Green said. "I think you need to look at Silverstone, where the regs changed for a fraction of a second, and the grid did appear to close up."
By Mark Glendenning and Matt Beer, Autosport.com, Today.