Mercedes Technical Director James Allison believes that Formula 1’s attempts to control dirty air through regulation changes have gone in the wrong direction.
The sport’s 2022 regulation change had aimed to create closer racing through cleaner airflow with the majority of downforce created by car floors as opposed to front and rear wings.
But it seems as if F1 is set for a third year of domination by Red Bull with the field unable to erase the advantage the champions have held since the return of ground effect.
While Allison believes that it is down to other teams to close the deficit, he feels that there are certain areas of the current regulations that could have been better addressed.
“I don’t necessarily think that they’ve failed in those terms [of single team domination], because our job is to try and make sure that we can make a good fight of it,” Allison said.
“But there are things in the regulations that don’t serve any of us well. I don’t think it’s sensible to have cars that hug the ground in the way that these cars hug it.
“And the idea that you get good racing by controlling wakes, while ignoring tyres… The whole idea of controlling wakes, being something of a tilting-at-windmills type of challenge, that side of things has been tested to destruction fairly evidently.
“But Red Bull are doing a good job and the rest of us have a duty to do a better job. I don’t think that’s the fault of the regulator.”
Allison hopes that F1’s governing body, the FIA, will learn lessons from the current regulation cycle ahead of the imposition of new frameworks for 2026.
The British engineer suggested it is critical that greater attention is paid to the interaction between the car floor, diffuser and rear ride height management in the next rule set.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong in particular with ground-effects floors,” Allison explained.
“But the particular layout of these ones, that have a response to rear ride height that is not particularly good for the cars, that isn’t something that we should carry into 2026.
“Amongst the teams, that would be a pragmatically accepted response.
“The FIA is still very much of a mind to place wake management at the top of the tree of everything, sacrificing this stuff. And it’d be helpful if there was more of a balanced approach there.”
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