Ferrari and Sauber have declined to sign an agreement that would see the exhaust/diffuser rules return to Valencia spec from the next race in Germany.
That means that overnight Williams changed its mind and said yes, while Ferrari did the opposite and said no. Sauber has held firm, with team boss Peter Sauber believed to be frustrated by the pressure being applied by Red Bull on the issue.
It’s worth noting that after saying yes in yesterday morning’s meeting Ferrari put both its cars on the second row in qualifying, with a smaller time gap to the pole than the team has had all year, suggesting that the team is not unhappy with the current 10% rules.
In today’s Technical Working Group meeting a letter was signed by 10 of the teams, with Christian Horner doing most of the lobbying.
One alternative discussed today was for all the engine manufacturers to come up with a throttle opening percentage that would equate cold blowing to hot blowing between different engines in terms of the volume of gas produced.
The next step could be another meeting next week, but the FIA told the teams that unless agreement is reached by the end of next week, then Germany will also be run to the current 10% rules.
Intriguingly it seems that Jean Todt was one of the motivating forces behind the offer the FIA gave the teams to come to an agreement to drop the 10% rule.
Adam Cooper F1 