London - F1 championship leaders Brawn GP are already hard at work on their 2010 car to ensure they stay ahead of the pack after an astonishing start to this season.
"We've been working on the new car for about a month now," team boss Ross Brawn told reporters on Monday before a British Grand Prix weekend that could see Jenson Button take his seventh win in eight races.
"Probably about a third of our wind tunnel time at the moment is spent on the new car."
The Briton said a standoff between teams and the sport's governing body over the 2010 rules would not put his engineers off their stride and was "completely confident" Brawn would be racing next year.
"You have to plan on that because there's nothing else to plan for," he said.
"We cannot allow this row to be a distraction to our engineering plans and our racing plans."
Mercedes-engined Brawn are one of five teams entered provisionally for 2010, with the deadline this Friday pending further negotiations with the governing body.
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, previously Brawn's boss when the Englishman was technical director of the Italian team during Michael Schumacher's dominant years, has talked about the possibility of a rival series.
"I'm not supporting a breakaway championship but I think if there was (one) it would be a breakaway championship with cars that are pretty similar to what there is now," said Brawn.
Strike a balance
Brawn are dominating both 2009 championships, with three one-two finishes in seven races as well as Button's amazing run of success.
The team have benefited greatly from last year's radical rule changes, with the previously Honda-owned team starting work on their 2009 car long before rivals and following a controversial design path that others ignored to their cost.
While Honda, who pulled out in December, gave up on their uncompetitive 2008 car and devoted all their resources to this season, Ferrari and McLaren had to keep their focus on a title battle that went down to the very last race.
Ferrari and McLaren have since struggled to score points, with the latter's world champion Lewis Hamilton now 52 points behind Button.
Brawn said there was little risk of his team falling into a similar trap, even if they too would have to strike a balance.
"The aim is always on the side of achieving what we've got in the hand rather than what you might have in the future. But you've got to balance it up because we want to be a consistently competitive team and I think we can be."
Although the FIA governing body's 2010 rules, and particularly a budget cap, are being challenged by the teams, Brawn expected the refuelling ban to stay whatever the outcome.
"There are a couple of big changes next year, there's no refuelling and we have a new size of front tyre which changes the weight distribution ... but the things we are doing now to improve the car aerodynamically will pretty much carry over to next year," he said.
"Obviously the fuel component is the big thing that changes the layout of the car and that is something we've been working on."
Source:www.wheels24.co.za
"We've been working on the new car for about a month now," team boss Ross Brawn told reporters on Monday before a British Grand Prix weekend that could see Jenson Button take his seventh win in eight races.
"Probably about a third of our wind tunnel time at the moment is spent on the new car."
The Briton said a standoff between teams and the sport's governing body over the 2010 rules would not put his engineers off their stride and was "completely confident" Brawn would be racing next year.
"You have to plan on that because there's nothing else to plan for," he said.
"We cannot allow this row to be a distraction to our engineering plans and our racing plans."
Mercedes-engined Brawn are one of five teams entered provisionally for 2010, with the deadline this Friday pending further negotiations with the governing body.
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, previously Brawn's boss when the Englishman was technical director of the Italian team during Michael Schumacher's dominant years, has talked about the possibility of a rival series.
"I'm not supporting a breakaway championship but I think if there was (one) it would be a breakaway championship with cars that are pretty similar to what there is now," said Brawn.
Strike a balance
Brawn are dominating both 2009 championships, with three one-two finishes in seven races as well as Button's amazing run of success.
The team have benefited greatly from last year's radical rule changes, with the previously Honda-owned team starting work on their 2009 car long before rivals and following a controversial design path that others ignored to their cost.
While Honda, who pulled out in December, gave up on their uncompetitive 2008 car and devoted all their resources to this season, Ferrari and McLaren had to keep their focus on a title battle that went down to the very last race.
Ferrari and McLaren have since struggled to score points, with the latter's world champion Lewis Hamilton now 52 points behind Button.
Brawn said there was little risk of his team falling into a similar trap, even if they too would have to strike a balance.
"The aim is always on the side of achieving what we've got in the hand rather than what you might have in the future. But you've got to balance it up because we want to be a consistently competitive team and I think we can be."
Although the FIA governing body's 2010 rules, and particularly a budget cap, are being challenged by the teams, Brawn expected the refuelling ban to stay whatever the outcome.
"There are a couple of big changes next year, there's no refuelling and we have a new size of front tyre which changes the weight distribution ... but the things we are doing now to improve the car aerodynamically will pretty much carry over to next year," he said.
"Obviously the fuel component is the big thing that changes the layout of the car and that is something we've been working on."
Source:www.wheels24.co.za
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