The new Formula 1 year also brings new quotas in terms of aerodynamics development: four teams are allowed to develop more, four teams lose out
Four Formula 1 teams have been allowed to carry out more aerodynamic development again since January 1 than in the second half of the previous season: Aston Martin, Alpine, Alfa Romeo and Haas slipped down the rankings in the second half of the 2023 season and will therefore benefit from the ATR handicap system that has been introduced
The “Aerodynamic Testing Restrictions” in Appendix 7 of the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations stipulate how many tests in the wind tunnel and with CFD each individual racing team may carry out in a given period. In general, the more successful a team is, the less development it is allowed to carry out.
This means that Red Bull, as constructors’ world champion, still has the least development time of all Formula 1 teams at its disposal: Red Bull can use 70 percent of the reference value.
The reference value of 100 percent refers to the seventh-placed team in the world championship, which was Williams in 2023. In the wind tunnel, that is the equivalent of 320 runs, 400 hours of testing time and 80 hours in which the wind may be switched on. The time periods for this have been divided into six predetermined periods over the year.
In the case of Red Bull, this means that they are allowed to carry out 224 wind tunnel tests with 280 hours of running time and 56 hours of so-called wind-on-time. Mercedes, in second place in the world championship, still has 75 percent available.
Ferrari, on the other hand, will have to make do with less development time than in recent months. In the last recalculation on June 30, 2023, the team was still in fourth place, but improved to third place and thus lost five percent of development time
McLaren has even lost ten percent (from 95 to 85) because it has improved from sixth to fourth place, the same applies to Williams (from 110 to 100) and AlphaTauri (from 115 to 105), which also climbed two places in the fall.
But where there are “losers”, there must also be “winners”: Aston Martin, in third place, only had 80 percent available in the summer, but fell back to fifth place and is now allowed to use 90 percent. Alpine dropped one place and now has 95 percent at its disposal.
At the very end of the field, Alfa Romeo and Haas swapped quotas with Williams and AlphaTauri. Both dropped two places each and are therefore allowed to develop significantly more. Haas has the largest quota of all teams with 115 percent (368 wind tunnel runs).
The allocation will change on the cut-off date of June 30, 2024 and will then be adjusted to the current World Championship status
