Charlie Whiting has admitted F1′s governing body will likely have to change the exhaust rules yet again for 2013.

Led by technical delegate Whiting, the FIA clamped down hard for this season on the sort of ‘exhaust blown diffuser’ layouts that had become widespread last year.

New exhaust layout rules, combined with new restrictions on engine mapping, have made it much more difficult for teams to achieve an aerodynamic effect from the fast-moving hot gases produced by the engine.

“We are aware, however, that they (the teams) will do as much as they can to direct the exhaust gases down into the area where they want them,” Whiting said in the FIA’s Inmotion magazine.

“I think (the effect) will be 20 per cent of what they had before.”

Among the cleverest and most effective solutions for the 2012 rules has been seen on the Sauber, and so Red Bull has followed suit and it is believed Ferrari will be next.

But Whiting hinted that the 2013 rules will clamp down even harder: “I suspect we’ll have to have another go at it in 2013,” said the Briton.

He admitted, however, that the egg cannot be unscrambled.

Referring to the jet of high-speed gas emanating from the exhausts near aerodynamic surfaces, Mercedes’ Aldo Costa confirmed to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport: “You can’t ignore a gift like that.”

Whiting explained: “It is a classic case of not being able to unlearn things once they have been invented. The engineers know that there are benefits to be had and there is still some scope for development in this area.

“And we can’t wipe the memories of the engineers like a computer, can we?”

Dr Helmut Marko has dismissed suggestions Red Bull is entering the 2012 season with a question mark over the legality of its new car.
With two days of pre-season testing remaining, the reigning world champions took a heavily revised car to Barcelona recently and guarded the rear exhaust solution intensely, with covers and – oddly – even umbrellas.

Initial analysis indicated it might be close to what the FIA will allow, following the strict clampdown on exhaust diffuser blowing.

Asked by the Kleine Zeitung newspaper if the FIA has completely banned the aerodynamic use of exhaust gases, Marko replied: “No.

“The regulations stipulate the position of the exhaust, within a certain parameter.”

As for the ‘cheating’ rumours, the team advisor insists: “It bounces off us completely. The way we see it, there are no grey areas and we are well within all the regulations.”

Meanwhile, FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting has admitted it is “quite likely” he will have to “revisit” the exhaust regulations for 2013.

 Red Bull is considering taking the ‘old’ version of its new car to Melbourne for the 2012 season opener.
That is the claim of Germany’s authoritative Auto Motor und Sport magazine, after the radically updated model made a troubled debut late last week as the pre-season test period ended.

Rivals and pundits believe the reigning champions are still leading the field, but the latest Barcelona-spec car – featuring a significantly different exhaust layout – did not complete many laps.

Moreover, it also did not appear fast.

“When I watched Webber’s long run on Saturday afternoon,” said an engineer for a rival team, “it was nothing special — not the laptimes nor the tyre wear.”

Also unconvinced are the drivers, with Mark Webber saying the new car did not feel “massively different” to the earlier launch-version RB8.

Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, was dead last after just 23 laps on Sunday, and is quoted as saying: “It wouldn’t be fair for me to judge the upgrades, so we have to rely on the data collected by Mark.”

Another rival engineer said there is visual evidence that the exhaust gases on the revised layout “are not going where they (Red Bull) want them to go”.

 The recently revealed ‘W-duct’ aside, another technical secret has been discovered aboard Mercedes’ newly launched W03.
Rumours insist the German squad was the last to reveal and test its 2012 car because it boasts a few highly innovative ideas that could drive Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg to the middle of the podium.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that mechanics working for the Brackley based team are making more efforts than usual to hide the front and rear of the car, and erecting huge screens in front of the pits between test runs in Barcelona.

But a big secret is now out of the bag, and it’s located beneath the rear rain light and being described by insiders as “like a double diffuser”.

Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport said the feature is believed to produce an effect similar to the one pioneered by Mercedes’ predecessor Brawn GP in 2009, which resulted in the championship for Jenson Button.

And according to Auto Motor und Sport, the concept differs to the banned double diffuser because the air is channelled through holes at the rear of the engine cover.

The concept, despite complying with the FIA’s blown diffuser clampdown, also reportedly involves the clever redirection of exhaust gases.

And yet another innovation on the Mercedes could be a passive ‘F-duct’-style addition to the car’s new rear wing, working alongside the ‘DRS’ system.

When asked about the ‘ducts’, Rosberg and Schumacher played it coy: “What’s that?” Rosberg answered, while Schumacher joked that it sounds like something that should go “quack!”

“They are a good team,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sky when asked about Mercedes.

“They have some good people so it would be foolish to underestimate them.”

Meanwhile, TZ newspaper in Germany reports that the FIA could be set to clamp down even harder in the area of exhaust blowing.

There are rumours Renault and Mercedes-powered teams are still using clever engine mapping techniques for aerodynamic effect.

Nico Rosberg’s father has questioned the decision by Mercedes to delay the launch of its 2012 car.
Nico Rosberg, the German-born son of 1982 world champion Keke, has publicly backed his team’s approach in not running the W03 in anger until now, a full group test after main rivals Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari got their new cars up and going.

“There is definitely some risk,” said former McLaren and Williams driver Keke Rosberg, 63.

“It’s Barcelona and so there could be some snow and the test could even be cancelled.

“Or if it happens to you what happened to Ferrari in Jerez, then you have even a shorter amount of time to fix everything.

“The tests are separated only by days and then there is the last one, and again it could be snowing or raining,” added Rosberg. “It’s not Andalucia, remember, but the Costa Brava.”

Rosberg said the issue for Mercedes and also Ferrari is the risks they are needing to take in order to catch up with last year’s pacesetters, Red Bull and McLaren.

“How could Ferrari be having such problems, when without the exhaust gases last year they won at Silverstone?

“Maybe it’s because they had to take such a leap, but when you do that there’s the risk it will go wrong.

“It’s the same for Mercedes, because last year they were in calm waters with a big gap to the top and the middle groups.”

 Christian Horner has admitted Red Bull is keeping its cards close to its chest ahead of the 2012 season.
Under the glare of the F1 world’s eyes, the title-defending RB8 has been in action for four days at Jerez recently.

But when the Adrian Newey-penned car was officially launched, the team refused to host a traditional unveiling ceremony, instead releasing a short animated video.

“We didn’t want it photographed at the first opportunity from every side by our competition,” admitted team boss Horner to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

Amid Red Bull’s meteoric recent success, rival teams have copied the blown diffuser and flexible wing concepts, and this year’s ‘step’ noses are all the result of yet another Newey design philosophy beneath the chassis.

“At last year’s launch at Valencia there were 100 photographers all doing their shots from the roof of the pits,” Briton Horner exclaimed.

“In no time at all, everyone knew every dimension of our car.”

So, in 2012, some mysteries about the RB8 continue to exist — one is the real or secondary function of the letterbox-style nose slot, and another is an unlaunched development of the exhaust layout.

“Last year we had to have the blown diffuser out early,” explained Horner, “because we had to find out how the exhaust gases affected the tyres.

“This time, the secret is in the detail, and you don’t want to give your competition too much of a helping hand,” he smiled.

Red Bull has devised a “clever” way of reclaiming some of the downforce lost through the banning of blown diffusers.
That is the claim of Jean Francois Caubet, who is in charge of the team’s engine supplier Renault.

Red Bull, the reigning back to back world champions, and Renault Sport F1 have worked more closely than ever before ahead of their 2012 title defence.

“Formula one is about creativity,” Caubet is quoted by Germany’s Auto Bild, “and although the rules have changed, we have worked with Red Bull and found a solution to compensate for the loss of performance.”

Last year, the cars acquired extra downforce through the ‘blowing’ of hot engine exhaust gases into the diffuser, even when the driver was off the throttle.

It is rumoured that, despite the FIA’s ban, some teams have flown close to the letter of the new rules with their new solutions.

“It is not the same as before,” Caubet continued, “but a clever development that could make the difference.”

After the first week of testing at Jerez recently, some observed that Adrian Newey’s new Red Bull RB8 was cornering as though on rails.

“That’s because we all used to play with model trains,” joked team owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

Added Newey: “The exhaust is one of the areas in which we still have some ideas up our sleeves.”

After the double diffusers, F-ducts and blown exhausts of the past few seasons, Peter Sauber is sure a “revolutionary invention” has not yet been seen in 2012.
The world of F1 watched the opening pre-season test of 2012 play out last week at Jerez, where clever solutions to the new exhaust clampdown and Mercedes’ innovative F-duct-style front wing circulated at speed.

“The big question,” agreed team boss Sauber, “is whether anyone has come up with another revolutionary invention after the banning of the adventurous engine control (of 2011).

“So far it doesn’t look like it,” he wrote in a column for Blick newspaper.

“At the rear of the cars there are different solutions for the guiding of the exhaust gases, but this was not unexpected,” added Sauber.

Another point of note at Jerez was the obvious visual difference between the radical ‘step’ noses and the much more conventional solution on the McLaren.

“It means nothing else than that they are using a less-high chassis,” Sauber reported. “This is interesting because of the apparent aerodynamic disadvantage.

“But equally clear is that McLaren would not have done it if they had not found another way to generate the corresponding downforce,” he insisted.

Norbert Haug has quietly praised Ferrari’s strategy in integrating a blown diffuser on its 2010 car.

Mercedes, McLaren and Renault have all had problems with the Red Bull-like layout at recent races.

But Ferrari, now the closest team in terms of pace to the championship leaders, introduced its version in several phases, beginning at Valencia in June.

Even in Hungary last weekend, the troublesomely hot exhaust gases were only being blown over the top of the Ferrari diffuser, with the full effect to only be seen at the next race at Spa.

“Perhaps it was not a bad decision of Ferrari’s not to rush,” Mercedes’ Haug is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

Meanwhile, Robert Kubica denied that Renault’s 2010 car is still suffering from a loss of engine power due to its initial blown floor efforts.

“This is now fixed,” the Pole said.  “We are back at our old efficiency.”

A secret of Red Bull’s superior pace in the decisive Q3 phase of qualifying may have been revealed.

Autosprint’s auto.it website reports that the team has a special electronic setting for the Renault engine that maintains a constant exhaust gas pressure.

When the setting is selected, the stream of gases flow constantly from the exhaust through the double diffuser, even when the driver of the RB6 is not pressing the throttle.

This would increase downforce at slow speeds.

The setting, revealed initially on the blog of the British journalist James Allen, is reportedly used sparingly – for example only in Q3 – because it is damaging to the engine.

The RB6 has been on pole position at 8 of the 9 grands prix so far this season.