Force India angered by 'unfair' Strategy Group

The Strategy Group is made up of Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren, Williams and the next best team in terms of constructors' championship finishing position from the previous season. Force India was part of the Strategy Group this year and will remain so in 2017 having finished fourth in the constructors' championship but Fernley says a recent blocked proposal shows the system allows the big teams to protect their advantage.

Force India had proposed an increase in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) development - currently restricted by the FIA - for teams who would rather focus on that technology rather than wind tunnels. However, with no other team supporting the idea, Fernley says the smaller teams are being unfairly treated.

"I think it shows the flaws in the strategy group," Fernley told Motorsport.com. "A programme that has been proposed to benefit F1 as a whole, and progress technology in F1 so that we become a leading exponent of the that technology, has been rejected purely on self-interest.

"And that self-interest just shows how bad the concept of the Strategy Group is. It just confirms what I've always said, it's not fit for purpose. We're on it, but all it does is allow us to witness how unfair it is.

"It was a very detailed proposal, and we believe it had merit. The concept was to be able to progress to CFD, if you wanted to do it, and it was open for everybody to be able to do that.

"The only reason the teams have voted against that is to protect the advantage that they have today. It's just a refusal to allow things to progress."