TWG likely to reject CDG wing

Renault's director of engineering Pat Symonds believes that the sport's technical chiefs are going to have no choice but to vote against an early introduction of the wing because there has not been enough time to iron out potential problems with the design or prove that it is the best way forward.

Formula One think-tank, the Technical Working Group, is due to discuss and then vote on whether the sport should introduce the much talked about Centreline Downwash Generating Wing for 2007. The FIA needs eight votes out of the 10 members for the plans to be given the green light.

But although a great deal of work has taken place on turning the concept of the wing into a reality since it was first mooted last month, Symonds believes there are still enough pitfalls with the design to leave the TWG with little option but to reject the early introduction. The wing will be introduced in 2008 whatever the outcome of the meeting.

Speaking to autosport.com, Symonds said he was supportive of the idea of the CDG but claimed the reality of the situation meant a no vote will be the most likely result of the TWG meeting.

"I think it is a very interesting concept," he said. "I think it is great to see someone put something on the table and say, 'let's try this' rather than just talking about it.

"I think that what it tries to achieve is something that is very important for the future and I am pleased to see someone take the initiative to produce something and try it. So I am positive about CDG.

"But at the same time I am very concerned about knee-jerk reactions. And although it is not a knee-jerk reaction as such, it is the first product of this train of thought that has been going on for a little while about how do we make cars overtake.

"It is very radical and there is an awful lot to explore. What has been presented to the press so far is extremely simplistic, and the teams now have in their possession a few more details of it. But in my opinion not enough to say that this is the way forward, particularly as there is other work going on through the GPMA initiative for a similar thing.

"We are meeting on Friday and we are being asked to make a decision as to whether CDG is the way for 2007. And I am afraid I have to say the answer is no it is not. That certainly does not mean that it is not the way for 2008, but we have got just a little bit ahead of ourselves."

But although Symonds believes the TWG will have to reject the plans tomorrow, he believes that continued work over the next few months on the project could yet result in a decision being made early next year to give the green light to the introduction of the CDG for 2007 anyway.

Due to Formula One's regulations, such a move would require unanimous support from the teams - something Symonds thinks may well be possible.

"If we were in a position to make that decision at the beginning or middle of next year then we might well say, 'yes it is, we have explored it and there are no alternatives and it is the best solution'. And that may well be the case, but we are not in a position in December to say that.

"The additional information that the teams now have fills in a few gaps but it is still very vague and there are a lot of non-aero things to consider, structural things, and it is a shame that the constitution is such that we have to make that decision now.

"I strongly suspect that we will make the decision not to introduce it in 2007, but we may alter that decision in the first half of 2006."

Sources claim that outgoing McLaren technical director Adrian Newey met with FIA representatives this week to give an update on the work he had been doing on the wing design, which autosport.com revealed last weekend.

The FIA have made it clear that they are still hoping to convince the technical directors to vote for the CDG plan tomorrow.

An FIA spokesman told autosport.com: "A detailed presentation of the CDG Wing will be made to the team experts tomorrow. We are confident that it is not a matter of 'if' the wing will be introduced but only a matter of 'when'".