Bonciani: You are right that the cause is not yet known with complete certainty. That is a concern of course. We are talking with Ferrari and Pirelli continually with the intention of finding the cause and agreeing on a course of action.
Whiting: We don't think the drivers used the kerb any more than before and it is very benign anyway. From what we saw in qualifying it wasn’t quicker to use the kerb anyway so it was desirable to stay on the track. It should also be noted that the kerb on the exit of Blanchimont is much more aggressive (similar to many other tracks on high speed corners). We doubt this was a contributing factor.
Bonciani: Yes, if our combined analysis will arrive to determine that would assist.
Whiting: Yes, the FIA has concerns which were explained to the Strategy Group when the decision to change the rules was made. However they felt that the adverse comments from nearly all concerned about in race stop-and-go penalties were worse. Of course, the rule was written with a spirit to try and remove incentive to do exactly what Honda did in Belgium.
Whiting: We were entirely happy with the new start restrictions and plan only one - real - minor change to the dashboard display.
Whting: I don't know if they’re better fixed. But certainly our push-off test is very severe. A four tonne load is applied to the side of the nose which is quite dramatic when you witness such a test. It is hard to say how an F1 nose would have behaved in a similar accident. We will be talking to our Indy car counterparts to see if we can learn anything from this terrible accident.
Whiting: I think the accident already has revived discussions about closed cockpits, but I don’t think it will change our minds. We believe the downsides of having a closed cockpit outweigh the advantages. As you know we continue our not inconsiderable efforts to find a solution to deflect debris. It is far from easy but we do have a new series of tests planned for next month. The results will be shown to the teams at the beginning of October.
