With a soporific and poorly attended Spanish Grand Prix fresh in the mind – there is speculation that some markets suffered the worst television viewing figures for a decade – the Strategy Group will discuss a raft of measures for 2017 designed both to improve the product and save money for financially stricken teams.
The FIA will present the conclusions of a report by McKinsey, a city management consultant firm, who have been enlisted to find ways of cutting costs. That includes standardising a number of parts, and some of the smaller teams – Force India, Lotus and Sauber – are interested in becoming ‘co-constructors’, where they would pool resources to design major parts of the car.
Jean Todt, the FIA president, was in Barcelona last weekend for talks with Ecclestone, and they may even form a rare alliance to stop the teams voting for their own competitive advantage. The pair had dinner on Wednesday night to try and come up with an agreement.
Ecclestone will also address the current generation of hybrid engines. He wants more noise and much less cost. At present, supply of the V6 turbos can cost a team not far off
£20 million a year. It is also part of plans to give the cars 1000 horsepower, making them faster and harder to drive in the process. Should he be unsuccessful, Ecclestone will again push his preference for going back to the old V8s or a formula where different teams can run different engines.
Red Bull will propose a ban on using wind tunnels for aerodynamic development, a move some say could save more than £10 million a year. But self-interest is never far away. Some believe Red Bull’s enthusiasm on the idea is because they are way ahead when it comes to computer simulation, the alternative to wind tunnels.
Telegraph Sport understands that even last year Mercedes pushed a plan for titanium plates to be put underneath the cars to produce sparks, partly to improve the spectacle but also to force Red Bull to run their car higher from the ground in the hope of harming their rival.
What many believe to be the real issue – the skewed distribution of the prize money – is not on the agenda. That requires the contracts to be torn up, but they are locked in until 2020.
One piece of good news is an American team, run by Gene Haas, joining the grid next year. Haas raised the possibility on Wednesday of Danica Patrick joining the driver line-up, ending the long wait for a woman racing back in Formula One. The 33-year-old currently competes in the Nascar sprint cup.
Three items on the agenda
• Banning wind tunnels. Instead of using expensive wind tunnels for aerodynamic development, teams would rely solely on computer simulation instead.
• More power noise. Ecclestone wants much cheaper engines which make more noise and produce 1,000 horsepower.
• Fatter tyres. The idea is to give the cars more mechanical grip, making them faster and more difficult to drive.