Allianz Safety Focus - Under Control

By Allianz
June 10 2005

The FIA makes sure that everything is done by the book and that the safety regulations are observed when it comes to the cars. At each Grand Prix the cars are checked prior to and during the weekend. Random checks are also carried out on the cars, looking at a specific item on the car.


	Under Control

	Formula 1’s X-ray vision: together with his team, Jo Bauer, Technical Delegate of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), inspects the cars before each race. He makes sure that everything is done by the book and that the safety regulations are observed. At the United States Grand Prix, the same applies as everywhere else: confidence is good, certainty is better. The work-packed weekend of the man who surveys Formula 1 with an eagle’s eye begins on the Thursday before the race. The area devoted to the Technical Delegates is action-packed all day, as every team has brought along two race cars and a spare car. That adds up to 30 cars which are measured, weighed and closely scrutinised for six hours. Here, grams and millimetres count. This first inspection only rarely turns up any great irregularities because the teams have done their homework and have already checked the cars back at home in the factory. For a good reason. “The race cars are constructed at the very limit, and over the course of a season new parts are added continuously. If we inspect them beforehand ourselves, we avoid any nasty surprises at the race track,” Sam Michael, Technical Director of the BMW WilliamsF1 Team, points out.


	Graphic courtesy of Allianz Click on image for larger version

	All clear, Commissioner? The FIA makes a great effort to ensure that the stipulations of the Technical Regulations are adhered to. For example, each car is assigned its own scrutineer for the entire race weekend. Only those cars that are identified as conforming to the regulations during Thursday's basic inspection are allowed to take part in the first practice session on Friday. On this second day, Jo Bauer and his colleagues content themselves with random checks, simply waving some of the cars into the FIA area. Sometimes the ground clearance is examined, sometimes the front-wheel area is checked and some-times the width of the rear wing is measured. Over the course of the race weekend, fuel samples are taken again and again, and are immediately analysed in an FIA laboratory located outside of the racing circuit. If the sample does not correspond to the template submitted to the FIA before the season, a summons is issued to the respective team. As the race approaches, the inspections increase in intensity. Again, the Technical Commissioners examine random cars, measuring and weighing them. This can quite easily lead to a single vehicle being checked several times. On the Sunday of the race, the scrutineers not only take another batch of fuel samples but also inspect the brake discs and, for example, the bearing surface of the tyres. The final checks take place during the formation of the starting grid. After the race, a weighing ceremony is conducted during which the drivers, dressed in their full work outfit, are required to join their vehicles on the scales. In addition, a certain number of randomly determined cars are inspected more closely – right down to the electronic programs of the on-board computers. As with the fuel, a copy of the software is also submitted to the FIA. This copy is now compared to the programs used during the race. Sometimes, Jo Bauer and his team work well into the night. It is not until all the checks have been completed – and no competitor has protested against another team – that the race result becomes official. If the scrutineers discover a violation of the regulations, they inform the Race Commission and the Sport Commissioners, who then make an on-the-spot decision regarding the penalty that should be imposed upon the team in question. Although the inspections at the race track are already highly intense, the FIA is discussing a change to the technical approval after the race. FIA President Max Mosley has been thinking about how grey areas in the regulations can be eliminated with clearer formulations and how violations can be detected even more effectively – and not only since the San Marino Grand Prix, where a prohibited auxiliary fuel tank was found in one of the vehicles. One possibility is to select one of the eight cars that made it into the points after every race and totally dismantle it. The probability of uncovering a violation of the rules would this way become even higher. “The chances of being caught would always be seven to one,” Max Mosley calculates. However, he makes no secret of the disadvantages of such a regulation, either: “It would take a great deal of time and there would be a long lapse before the race results were official.” In any case, there will still be lots of work for Jo Bauer and his team in the future. And did you know... ... that the engineers in Formula 1 have always come up with unusual ideas to bypass the regulations? Take a look at these three examples: in 1978, Brabham installed a propeller on the rear of its BT46 to increase downforce. In 1980, Lotus developed a twin chassis that reduced the negative impact on aerodynamics caused by the vibrations of the rigid suspension. In 1981, Nelson Piquet used a smaller fuel tank during qualifying to reduce weight. A rear wing, hastily fitted before the inspection, brought the car back up to the required minimum weight. That year, the Brazilian became World Champion.