May 22 (GMM) Jean Todt has played down criticism of the incoming changes to the F1 regulations for 2019.
A majority vote by the teams means that significant aerodynamic changes will be added to the rules next year, with a new front wing in particular designed by boost overtaking.
But some voted against the move, and Red Bull’s Christian Horner was even furious.
“This sport is very good at shooting itself in the foot,” he said.
“These are not small changes. If you change the front wing, you have to change everything behind it.”
Horner questioned if the changes are necessary.
“There has never been much overtaking in Melbourne and Barcelona,” he said. “Otherwise, we had three great races this year.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said of the recent strategy group meeting in which the changes were voted through: “I thought Christian was going to have a heart attack.
“We thought the suggestions and the direction looked right so he wanted to support it,” he told Auto Bild.
FIA president Todt agrees, backing Liberty Media’s vision.
“When you realise that something is wrong, you should find a solution,” he said. “We all want a better show and a better sport, so we’ve done something.”
As for the argument that it will cost teams millions to make changes next year and then more again in 2021 for the next regulations, Todt answered: “If we wait until 2021, that’s almost three years when we know that there is a problem.”
Todt also dismissed Horner’s charge about the changes being ill-considered.
“We talked to many engineers and asked them what we should do to make the sport better. These are the suggestions,” he said.