Q: (Edd Straw â Autosport) Adrian, there was a lot of talk in Spain about the legality of the exhaust-blown diffuser operating while the driver is off the throttle. Whatâs your interpretation of the legality of that, specifically relating to article 3.15 and could you explain your reasoning behind the position you take on this technology?
AN: Well, I think the key to 3.15 is that it talks about âdriver over-run then the throttle should be closedâ then in brackets âidle speedâ so it seems to be implying that the throttle should be closed at idle, which it clearly is. What the throttle does on over-run at other times is not clear in the regulations, not as expected. Certainly, in the case of Renault, then they open the throttle to full open on the over-run for exhaust valve cooling, and thatâs part of the reliability of the engine. It has been signed off through the years for dyno testing and for them to change that would be quite a big issue, because the engineâs not proven that it would be reliable if the throttle remained closed in that situation. Obviously if other people are going further and perhaps firing the engine on the over-run then clearly exhaust valve cooling is not part of that and that would be something that presumably they would need to explain to keep Charlie (Whiting, technical delegate) happy.