The rule and regulation changes is fairly common practice in F1. How do the teams prepare then for these alterations and what impact it has on them? Dominic Harlow shares some insights..
Dominic worked with Force India (and previous owners) between 1999 and 2011 in various roles but most recently as Director of Circuit Engineering. He then moved to Williams where he worked for two seasons in 2012 and 2013 as Senior Operations Engineer.
Since then he has moved into an independent consulting role and provides his expertise in F1, DTM, World Endurance Championship, Formula E and more. He wasn’t the part of a team when the 2014 changes came in but was very much in it while preparing for it.
However, he saw the changes that came in 2009 with the banning of various aerodynamic devices on the car and introduction of KERS in 2010 together with refueling ban and also in 2011 when the double-diffuser was banned.
It is a big task for any team – more the smaller ones than the big manufacturers, to prepare for such changes. Here’s Dominic talking to FormulaRapida.net as to how the teams feel when the modifications are made for coming seasons.
Q) You were not part of a team when the 2014 rules kicked in but you were part when the team was preparing for it. How did you and the team see that?
Dominic Harlow: “[It is] difficult to remember as it was a few years ago now. I think most people felt the decision to delay it by a year from the planned 2013 introduction to 2014 was a good one. We were already hybrid with the KERS, so the changes were just another step.
“The engineering around the electrical machines (MGU-K and MGU-H) and batteries was already looking very challenging and so it was clear there was a lot of development to come which is [always] an exciting prospect for most of the engineers [working in F1]. I think one has to treat every change as an opportunity and look for the strengths that you can exploit in this scenario.”
Q) How does the rule changes affect a team?
DH: “Teams make a new car every year to the best of their ability so I don’t think the regulations really affect that part of the job aside from possibly different lead times for various things bringing new challenges, but F1 is very good as compressing lead times.”
Q) In general, how do you summarise the various changes in F1 which even for good is not highlighted and gets lost in the fight for racing or technology?
DH: “There is so much incredible engineering in F1 and advances are being made all the time. In my experience, the level of detail and intensity of this work is absolutely unique in motorsport. I love the creativity that is possible because of this constantly evolving environment.”
