F1 2017 development tipped to be 'relentless'
ByAutoSport
Published 02/12/2016 at 10:15 GMT
Formula 1 teams are expecting aerodynamic development to be "relentless" next season when overhauled technical regulations are introduced.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
Next year will feature more aggressive-looking cars with wider front and rear wings as part of revised aerodynamic regulations, and the cars will be fitted with wider tyres.
With teams starting with new concepts, Williams technical chief Pat Symonds believes there will be rapid and consistent development throughout the season.
"The updates are going to be relentless," said Symonds.
"It is going to be like nothing we've seen since we were making double diffusers in the back of the truck.
"The biggest change is that we've got less true development time on it, both time [since the new rules were agreed] and windtunnel runs.
"If you go back to 2009, it was a huge change but we were talking about it for ages.
"There were drafts of the rules being pushed around and we were running windtunnels 24/7.
"This time we got our windtunnel tyres in late February and it's been 65 runs a week and there has been work to do on the 2016 cars.
"The development is very immature compared to where we've been before and that's why it will continue."
Williams admits it failed to keep up with development and production this year but those are two areas Symonds says the outfit has addressed.
He added that with Lance Stroll making his F1 debut with the team, it is important Williams has enough spare parts to account for incidents.
"We have acknowledged two things: one that there is going to be more updates coming," he said.
"Two, we've got a rookie driver who is inevitably going to have spats so we have tried to upgrade our production a bit.
"It's a terribly expensive thing to do and that's where the money will come into play with the guys who want to make a new front wing."
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