LONDON: Reliability will be the key to unlocking this year’s Formula One championship, Ferrari technical director James Allison said a day after his team’s new car was revealed on Saturday.
The Briton said that while the rate of development in aerodynamics during the course of the season would be steep, it would no longer be the dominant factor.
“The importance of aerodynamics to the championship is going to be at least as important as the differences in power levels between the various engine manufacturers,” Allison told the Ferrari website (www.ferrari.com).
“However, if I had to choose the thing that was likely to be the dominant factor for the whole season, I would choose neither the level of power nor the aerodynamic development.
“I would say that this year reliability is going to be absolutely fundamental.”
The new power unit, a V6 turbocharged engine with energy recovery systems, represents a huge challenge for engineers. Drivers are now limited to 100kg of fuel in the race, instead of 140kg, and are allocated five engines per year instead of eight.
Former Ferrari champion Niki Lauda, now non-executive chairman of the Mercedes team, also highlighted reliability on a visit to his old team for discussions with Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo about the sport in general.
“The combination of new car and installing the car and engine in a way that (means) you are reliable, this is the biggest challenge,” he told the website.
“Whoever has less failures this year will be world champion.”
MALAYSIA: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) plans to expand the Asian Cup from 16 to 24 teams as part of a raft of changes designed to increase the number of international matches for member nations.
The AFC competitions committee made the proposal at a meeting in Oman on Saturday, at which they also announced plans to merge regional preliminary qualification rounds for the World Cup and Asian Cup.
“Competitions are the main products of AFC and I am happy that it is in good hands,” AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa said in a statement.
“We must market our product and generate income to sustain football across the continent.
“I am sure that the changes that happen will have big impact in Asian football and will benefit our member associations.
Australia will host the 16th edition of the quadrennial Asian Cup next year with the first expanded tournament likely to take place in 2019.
Any proposals made by the AFC competitions committee must first be ratified by the confederation’s executive committee to take effect. There are 47 member nations in the AFC.
REUTERS
