Michael cautious about proposed new rules

The FIA World Council met on Wednesday to discuss the latest round of proposals that could lead to a major overhaul of the F1 technical regulations from 2011.

While many of the suggestions are geared towards improving the efficiency of the cars, there are also a number of ideas being floated to improve the spectacle, ranging from electronically-controlled moveable wings to ride heights that can be adjusted mid-race to facilitate overtaking.

Michael said that while there were some promising ideas in the new document, there was still a long way to go before the final regulations took shape.

"I think the whole 2011 plan is obviously in its first stages," he told autosport.com. "There are lots of pros and cons to it, with all the different pieces there, but one's things clear and that is that it has to come as a package of rule changes.

"It's very difficult to comment on one item in particular without seeing the whole package. And that hasn't even been discussed at TWG [Technical Working Group] level yet. So there is still a long way to go."

While the final version of the regulation will be created with some input from the teams, Michael reiterated that the latest draft was simply a move by the FIA to advance the discussion.

"We haven't had any input into that document," he said. "That's the FIA's first draft - they've obviously issued a couple of documents, but the second one came about 10 days after the first one.

"That's their first proposal on a couple of ideas that they're considering, so they'll now take the teams' feedback and go forward from there.

"What we do is, we'll go back to them now and say what our opinion is on each item, and how it should be considered with regard to the rule change. So we'll consider that in the coming months.

"The final regulations won't necessarily need the full consensus from all of the teams, but it should have a general consensus within Formula One. And that means manufacturer teams, independent racing teams, and the people that have a vested interest in Formula One from the technical side."