Eight teams favour reduced wind tunnel use by 2026
Eight of the 10 F1 teams reportedly favour reducing wind tunnel usage by 2026 and banning it completely by 2030.
Ever since the 1980s, teams have spent hours upon hours in wind tunnels working on the aerodynamics of their cars, but in recent times, there has been a lot of talk of that changing.
With a budget cap being introduced, saving money is more important than ever for teams, and getting rid of wind tunnels would significantly reduce costs.
Furthermore, with all the electricity they use, they don’t exactly fit into the sport’s vision of becoming as environmentally friendly as possible.
In May, Formula 1’s chief technical officer Pat Symonds revealed eight of the 10 Formula 1 teams are in favour of eliminating the use of them within the next 10 years, but Mattia Binotto stated that doing so any sooner was not a viable option.
“Banning the wind tunnel has been discussed for 2030, not earlier. That was the proposal. It’s a long time from now to then,” he told reporters in Monaco.
“I think all the teams are open to the discussion, and open to accept it eventually because it’s a long time from now. Are we today ready to ban the wind tunnel? Not at all.
“Banning it completely, if you would do it today, the testing would be on track and that would be even more expensive rather than doing it in the wind tunnel, so I don’t think the times are mature today for a decision.
“I think it’s right to discuss it but I think the testing is part of our normal engineering process, so for today it’s important to have the wind tunnel and let’s see how much simulation will develop in the future.”
That may be the case, but a report from f1-insider.com has revealed that eight teams – presumably the same eight that Symonds referred to – are open to some changes in that department being introduced as soon as 2026.
Specifically, they favour banning wind tunnels altogether in 2030 but want to significantly reduce the usage of them four years prior to that.
“Eight of the ten teams are open to the idea of greatly reducing the use of wind tunnels from 2026 and completely banning them from 2030,” the report states.
“Because not only the electricity costs are high. The teams also have to build extra models that cost around 600,000 euros.
Despite this though, Aston Martin have recently confirmed that they’re pressing on with their new facility regardless.
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