New F1 regulations ‘a bit of a mess’ says Gordon Murray

Former Formula 1 championship winning car designer and the designer of the McLaren F1 road car Gordon Murray believes that the new for 2014 F1 technical regulations are ‘a bit of a mess’ and not thought through properly.

Speaking to autoX at the sidelines of a seminar at the Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) in Chennai, Gordon stated that the radical F1 technical regulations - that see 1.6 litre turbocharged V6 engines mated to Energy Recovery Systems replace 2.4 litre, normally aspirated units – could have been introduced at a later date.

“It’s quite a radical change in terms of both mechanical and electrical aspects,” said Murray. “I know that the teams and the engine builders were under a lot of pressure to get it right.

“They needed more time, maybe a year or two more to sort them out properly.”

Murray – who has designed championship winning cars for Brabham and McLaren – also stated his fears about the spectacle of F1 being hurt.

However, the new engine regulations that see the new 'power units' required to produce the same power as the 2013 engines with 35 percent greater efficiency, have succeeded in luring Honda back to F1 as an engine manufacturer.

Nico Rosberg, during pre-season testing in Bahrain managed to lap just 0.953 seconds slower than the pole position time he set there last year in a car that was 60 kilos lighter and had greater downforce than his 2014 Mercedes AMG F1 W05 too.

“I’m a bit worried about the noise, but if the sound is still appealing then that’s a good thing,” said Murray. “The people who frame the rules have to remember that F1 is, at the end of the day, a business and it’s the spectators that matter the most at the end of the day.”

As a part of his presentation at the seminar – which included talking about his T25 city car – Murray also showed a scan of a sketch he had been asked to do by a British magazine with the brief to design an F1 car if he had full technical freedom.

When asked whether technical freedom could be achieved in F1 while keeping costs in control, Murray was pretty adamant about which aspect of the sport should be in focus.

“I think it’s possible to have a lot more technical freedom and keep costs down if teams are willing to bring fewer and smaller motorhomes to a circuit,” said Murray. “I know that teams require hospitality and all to host sponsors but there should be a line drawn somewhere.”