26/07/2019
NEWS STORY
Following last month's meeting in Paris, which saw Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg and Grand Prix Drivers' Association chairman, Alex Wurz, meet with senior officials from F1 and the FIA, as the drivers gave their input in terms of the 2021 rules package, a further meeting took place in Geneva this week at which Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean represented their colleagues.
Speaking at Hockenheim, Grosjean revealed that there are four main areas of concern for the drivers as they look ahead to an overhaul of the regulations intended to level the playing field and improve the show, for fans as well as drivers.
"We've got four clear points of where we want to go," said the Frenchman, "and there were discussions of a few things that we thought were completely useless to us in terms of making the show better. So we just need to keep on going on those four points, and make sure we keep the pressure on and help F1 to get better.
"Four points presented by the GPDA, and four points that we've agreed on with every driver," he added. "It's difficult to go there when there is a question of the scope of the discussions with the others, because then it's your personal opinion. So it's a matter of the GPDA, 51 percent of the drivers say this is the direction we want to go, and this is the direction we want to go.
"Out of four points from the GPDA number one is the tyres," he revealed. "Number two is the aero. Number three is the weight, and number four is money between the teams.
"If you solve those four points, I think it will be f****** good," he smiled.
Asked about the return of refuelling, a move which is favoured by FIA president, Jean Todt, Grosjean said: "Nothing is agreed. GPDA, we want it, not because we think it's great for racing, but we need to help to bring the weight of the car down. So it's just a temporary fix to help make the cars 70kgs lighter or 60kgs at the start of the race, and not overheat the tyres.
"When I started in 2009 it was 605kgs," he continued, "and now we're 740-something. So it's 140kgs and you can feel the cars in the low speed corners are very heavy, and the start of the race is even more, 850, or something like that.
"We just feel it's too much for a Formula 1 car," he admitted. "I know we're talking about an 18 inch tyre, which is another 25kgs; a standard brake system, which is another 8kgs. So you are actually adding and adding, while what we want is to bring the weight down."
The Frenchman revealed that the drivers had actually proposed a change to the engine regulations, a move that would be favoured by most fans.
"This we were told was not an option," he said. "It's the first thing we brought up... bring back a V10 and you save 150kgs!"
Check out our Friday gallery from Hockenheim, here.