GrandPrix247, after long discussions with the FIA, has finally achieved the goal of gaining access to Formula 1 Technical Directives, and our first is TD039.
Regular GrandPrix247 readers will know that since October 2021 and through the vehicle of Tech Draft we have been leading an ongoing dialogue with the governing body of Formula 1, the FIA, on behalf of the F1 media industry and the fans, the sport’s most important patrons, advocating for free and transparent access to F1 Technical Directives that are often released from time to time during a season with the intent of resolving technical queries and issues, in the pursuance of transparency and a greater understanding of the technical decisions being made in the sport.
Given that there was a new FIA leadership that commenced in December of 2021, it is understandable that unavoidable changes of people in critical operational roles were made, and just as understandable that our cause took somewhat of a back seat whilst the incoming officeholders familiarized themselves with the immediate tasks at hand.
The role relevant to our cause within the FIA is the Secretary-General for Motor Sport, and the previous person in the role, Peter Bayer, left the FIA in June this year and was replaced by Shaila-Ann Rao (ad interim).
We have finally done it!
I am pleased to inform our readers that as a result of my correspondence with Ms. Rao we have been informed that it is the FIA’s desire to be fully transparent and that they believe an important part of that process will be to make TD’s available.
Clearly, certain information of a confidential nature that might be included in a TD, such as third-party intellectual property and private contact information cannot be made public and consequently, the FIA are currently working on a redaction system for this type of information, and plan to have a process for this in place for the start of the 2023 season.
In the meantime, Ms. Rao kindly made the offer for her office to provide me with any TD’s from the 2022 season that I might wish for, which I acted upon by requesting TD039 Rev E (Aerodynamic Oscillations and Car grounding), and for which I now have a copy of.
I acknowledge that TD039 is covered by a note stating that the document is strictly private and confidential and for the exclusive use of the FIA, the F1 Teams and the PU Manufacturers, and whilst I will soon draft a Tech Draft article discussing TD039 and its context, for that reason I will not be including copied extracts from the document, nor will I be posting any links to an uploaded copy of it.
On behalf of the whole GrandPrix247 team and its readership, I sincerely thank Ms. Rao for taking the time out of her obviously busy schedule to correspond with me, and to accommodate our cause.
We look forward to a transparent and productive relationship into the future – Mark Kay.