Nikolas Tombazis: No fights like in tourism

Nikolas Tombazis, single-seater technical manager at the FIA, recalls that intervening to modify the 2019 regulations regarding the front wings was necessary, but warns that we should not expect “touring” type fights.

Published on 03/10/2018 à 17:45

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Nikolas Tombazis: No fights like in tourism

By intervening on the 2019 technical regulations of the F1, with modifications made to the front wings, the governing bodies of the discipline hope to bring a little more spectacle to the track, with increased overtaking possibilities.

An intervention deemed necessary by Nicholas Tombazis, recently appointed to the technical direction of the pole car to the FIA. “With the current generation, the following single-seater loses around 30% of the downforce (in an interval of 15 to 20m from the car preceding it), comments the former technician of Ferrari in AUTO.

We hope to reduce this by 10%. It's difficult to put forward an exact figure. What I would like to say is that there is a tendency for teams to develop more downforce, which exacerbates the problem.

If we hadn't intervened, we think 2019 would have been worse than 2018, and 2020 would have been worse than 2019. We now think 2019 is going to be much better than 2018, but no one expects F1 single-seaters to fight like touring cars »

Some teams have already been able to try running with the front wings in the 2019 configuration, during private tests, during summer.