Skip to content

Mark Hughes Q&A: The sound and spectacle of 2014 as Formula 1 goes turbo

The Sky F1 commentary expert looks ahead to the 2014 season

The Sky F1 commentary expert on how F1 is starting afresh in 2014 and what it may mean for the spectacle as the sport goes green...

And are the tyres going to be as critical as they have been in recent seasons?
MH:
"As things stand at the moment, Pirelli are saying unless they can get more testing they are going to make a very hard, conservative, tough tyre. Should that be the case then the strategies as we know them based around tyre wear will more or less disappear. The strategies will be based more around fuel and energy usage and as the tyres will be hard, it will make the cars even more difficult as they've got less downforce, harder tyres and a lot more torque." We had a lot of talk last year that the heavier drivers, such as Nico Hulkenberg, could have been squeezed out of the sport by these new regulations. Why are the heavier drivers being penalised?
MH:
"They have increased the minimum weight limit by 43 kilos but the initial estimates for the increase in weight from the bigger electrical packs, the turbos, the cooling necessary, is in the region of 75 kilos. So you can no longer afford to have a driver that is beyond that because you can't get the car below the minimum weight limit, which you could in 2013. "If you had a heavier driver it just meant you carried a little bit less ballast than a car with a lighter driver. But with the 2014 weight limit it actually means you're going to be over the limit so it will actually be costing you direct lap time rather than just less favourable placement of the ballast." Of course somebody like Hulkenberg is as lean as they come, it's just he's taller than the rest...
MH:
"Yes, it's not that he's fat - if you look at him he's like a rake! Nico hasn't been squeezed out but it's definitely been a factor in a lot of teams when they have been looking at driver choices. They are looking much more closely at weight and height." It really could be an engine formula in 2014 couldn't it?
MH:
"It will very much be an engine formula - especially at the beginning. They've taken a lot of power out of the aerodynamics and there is a lot more emphasis on how effectively and how efficiently you can use your various energy sources. That was the intention and that will happen." Can we make a prediction on what the spectacle is going to be like?
MH:
"I think initially the spectacle is going to be surprise results because reliability is probably going to be very poor at the first. You may well have a car that is not very fast but keeps going which is the winner of the race. So we might see a big jumble up of surprise results. "Also, while you're not going to run out of fuel with these cars as they're too closely monitored for that, but you might find the pace drops off dramatically at the end of races - a lot more dramatically than before. So the closing stages of races are probably going to be very exciting."

Around Sky