“Our development programme is clearly much reduced compared to previous years - and our resources have been structured to reflect this,"
Renault's Rob White says, "In the past, the primary routes to improved performance came through development within the engine’s sealed perimeter, and any such development has been outlawed by the engine homologation regulations. No development is permitted within the sealed perimeter of the engine, which restricts our work to optimising how we use the engine in the car - and the areas of electronics, ancillary components and gains from fuel and lubricants with our partner Elf. Last year, with unlimited development under deliberately restrictive V8 engine regulations, we could expect to achieve a gain of between 1-2 per cent in engine performance. During 2007, modest gains of up to one per cent may be achievable.”
Testing:
Having struggled to rein in the excesses on one particular team in recent seasons, all eleven
equipes go into 2007 reading from the same hymn sheet regarding the amount of testing they are allowed to do.
Each team is now governed by an agreement that limits total annual testing mileage to a maximum of 30,000km. In-season testing is restricted to just eight three-day
single-car tests and a limited number of shakedowns and aerodynamic tests. However, while there has been greater activity in the relatively free pre-season period, teams are expected to continue racking up the miles between the start of the race year and the end, in Brazil, in October, albeit on a more controlled basis.
Safety:
Safety continues to be at the forefront of the minds of those making the rules, and all 2007 cars are required to include several significant improvements relative to their predecessors.
