Audi Technical Director James Key has sent a clear message to the FIA that it would “never accept” other Formula 1 manufacturers having an advantage, ahead of a crunch meeting regarding the supposed power unit loophole furore.
The new F1 regulations cycle has already caused controversy, regarding a specific area on the compression rations of the new 50-50 V6 hybrid engines.
New rates are capped at 16:1, but wording in the regulations have left a degree of ambiguity, as it states that the ceiling is measured in ambient temperatures.
This has left Red Bull and rivals Mercedes to supposedly ensure that its respective power units will measure at 16:1 in those temperatures, but can rise above in warmer temperatures.
The clever way around this has been met with discontent from the other five OEMs – Audi, Ferrari and Honda.
And the FIA has acquiesced to a meeting with the three manufacturers ahead of next week’s first pre-season test in Barcelona.
Speaking at the launch of the livery for its maiden F1 challenger – the R26 – Key said there is a trust placed in the sport’s governing body, but also laid out its inistence it would not stand for an un-level playing field.
“We have to, as we do, trust the FIA with making the right decisions here,” he said.
“It’s new regs. You’ve got to have a level playing field. If someone came up with a clever diffuser and you said it’s not the right thing to do, no one else can have it, but you can have it for the rest of the year.
“It doesn’t make sense. We’d never accept that.”
‘No-one wants to sit a season out if you have a blatant advantage’ – Audi
Key’s comments refer to the 2009 F1 regulations issue that saw some teams produce the double diffuser, that saw uproar amongst the teams that did not feature one on their cars.
Then-FIA president Max Mosley did not initially ban the devices, which was speculated afterwards as a political move which caused a negative effect on teams such as McLaren and Ferrar.
“I think if it’s sort of bypassing the intent of the regulations, then it has to be in some way controlled,” Key added.
“So we trust the FIA to do that, because no one wants to sit a season out if you’ve got a blatant advantage that you can do nothing with in a homologated power unit. So I think for us, hopefully, the FIA will make the right decisions.”
READ MORE – Gallery: Audi unveils livery of its R26 F1 challenger
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