Ferrari’s Mattia Binotto pinpoints potential risks of standard parts for Formula 1. Binotto pinpoints potential risks of standard parts for F1.

Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto says the problems Formula 2 experienced with its clutches last year shows why Formula 1 should be wary of increasing the use of standard parts.

All F2 teams are required to use the same standard chassis. However when the series introduced its current model last year teams encountered repeated problems with their clutches. Following a series of near-misses where multiple cars stalled during standing starts, the FIA temporarily directed the series to use rolling starts instead.

F1 is planning to introduced more standard parts in 2021 to reduce costs, a plan Ferrari opposes. Binotto says the F2 example shows why F1 should be wary of going ahead with the plan, and pointed out the introduction of a budget cap may make standardisation unnecessary.

“We were arguing [against] the standardisation at first because there is a budget cap to control the costs and whatever you may do at the end you may standardise but the budget cap, at least for the top teams, will be the level of expenditure for the season,” said Binotto in response to a question from RaceFans.

“We believe that standardisation may even be a risk for Formula 1 in the future, because at first you don’t know what is the reliability on standard parts at the very start. We had a situation as well, if we look back at F2 for example, on a standard clutch, for many races they simply had to start behind the safety car because the clutch was not reliable enough.

“So we may accept standardisation but we need to make sure at first that it is reliable, that the level of quality is the right one, that the level of performance is what you may expect for an F1.”

Mattia Binotto is also concerned introducing some standard parts could increase costs, at least in the short term.

“We need to make sure that we do not have extra indirect cost by simply developing a standard component,” he said. “We believe that for most of the standard components that we are proposing currently for 2021, we will all need to redesign our car, we will need somehow to make sure that whatever is the new component is properly functioning and that’s extra cost.

“[Then] maybe it’s not costs that you have from 2021 onwards but it will be extra cost from now until 2021.”