Byrne Warns Against Weight Penalties

Ferrari chief designer Rory Byrne has warned Formula One's top bosses not to introduce their radical weight penalty proposals next year because he fears that it will not be possible to introduced the ballast blocks safely.

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and FIA president Max Mosley want to introduce penalties that will weigh top cars down to level out the sport and produce more winners. But Byrne said they should avoid rush solutions.

"There are some very serious safety issues here," said Byrne. "I am not convinced it has been thought through fully. You have got to think about the energy you have got to dissipate in an accident and it needs careful thought."

With the plan currently set at one kilo of ballast per point, the extra weight that the ballast would develop on a car as dominant as the Ferrari would lead to severe implications for crash tests.

The current crop of Formula One cars must undergo several different tests before the start of the season and the FIA requirements to pass them are based on the standard weight of 600kg.

But Byrne added that even if there is some way of solving the crash test problem the proposal will still not be able to be introduced next season because the cars are already designed and there is nowhere to put the extra lead weights.

"It is far too late to affect next year's design now," he said. "We have designed the chassis. Where can you put the ballast safely if it hasn't been designed in properly? We could find room, but it wouldn't be mounted in a really secure place."

The proposals, along with those for long-life engines and gearboxes, changes to the qualifying procedure, standardised parts and another radical idea to swap drivers will be heard at a meeting of the Formula One commission on October 28.