The ban on off-throttle blowing for the 2012 season will remain in place after several teams attempts to overturn it failed, following a Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting in Abu Dhabi.
Whilst the 2012 regulations had been tweaked in a bid to stop the practice, by forcing teams to use periscope exhausts which exit at the top rather than the bottom, many felt the regulations hadn’t gone far enough and a similar effect could be achieved by blowing parts of the rear-wing and/or suspension.
A meeting was held in Abu Dhabi to discuss the possibility of overturning a ban which allows teams to use engine mapping in 2012 to utilise exhaust gases to do just that, however the move was blocked by three teams; Ferrari, Sauber and HRT.
The FIA, which issued a technical directive clarifying the matter only a month ago, will now monitor any use of special engine maps to produce more than necessary exhaust gases, thus banning the practice which is currently adopted by the majority of the grid.
This could create problems for several teams, namely Red Bull, McLaren and Renault, all of which were known to have been looking at ways of using the hot gases to increase rear-downforce by exiting them over the rear-wing plane and rear-suspension.
It’s believed theses teams in particular were looking to overturn the ban as their 2012 designs include larger fuel tanks, a requirement of off-throttle blowing as it uses more fuel. These teams will now be forced to return to the drawing board with very little time left, especially as FIA crash testing must be conducted before the chassis, which houses the fuel tank, can be signed off.
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