With in-season testing being banned by the FIA for 2009, the use of wind tunnels and CFD systems in Formula 1 has become close to vital. While some teams have only one wind tunnel to base their aerodynamic testing on, other outfits like Williams or Toyota have preferred to invest their funds into the construction of a second wind tunnel.
In an interview for autosport.com site, Williams argued that each team should be allowed to use the resources they have invested in for years. Years before the economic crisis, all teams got equal shots at choosing where they want to put their money: either a second wind tunnel or a complex CFD system.
Williams have chosen to spend tons of money on building a new tunnel, while others have willingly focused their finances to CFD. Should the international body decide to restrict the use of aerodynamic devices to a single wind tunnel, all the money invested by Williams into F1 technology for the past few years would go to waste.
“I was happy with that until a few of the other teams said 'oh we've only got one wind tunnel, so you should have too' which I thought was a very strong piece of discrimination,” said Williams in an interview for the aforementioned site.
“What about you've got two of these and I've only got one, so you'll have to run with just one driver? Try that one! You can see where it's coming from. There are some very big investments around and those guys with only one tunnel have said 'yipee you can't have your second,” added the Williams F1 owner.
“Under the Concorde Agreement - and I've presumed that in the last three years that we are racing with a new Concorde Agreement in place, otherwise what binds us together? - that if the technical regulations are changed at short notice it must be by unanimous agreement. Well there wasn't unanimous agreement and it still got changed. I think we're getting close to a solution, a solution that is quite acceptable...but I repeat we're unhappy about it,” concluded the Englishman.
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