Green: Teams must be careful with new homologated parts system

Racing Point technical director Andrew Green has warned teams over the use of the new homologated parts system in F1, believing severe penalties may await any team who mistakenly breaches the system.

In order to cut costs within F1 over the next two years, it has been agreed to freeze development on some parts of the cars until the end of 2021, beginning at the season's opening race in Austria.

Other components will also be frozen from September 30, with a token system being enforced to allow teams to make changes from those dates.

Green believes it will be vital for teams to keep track of their parts and ensure only approved components are used within the season, citing the example of Racing Point setting up a dedicated group within the team to certify this.

"It is quite complicated for sure," Green told Autosport. 

"And for us as far as managing it and the FIA managing it is incredibly complex, and it does take a significant amount of resource to do it.

"We understand the reasons why, and it has to be done. So from our perspective, we need to understand what we need resources wise to manage it.

"It's a technical regulation, not a sporting regulation, so if we are found in breach of the homologated parts rule it's effective exclusion from the event, so it's a really serious offence.

"With that in mind, we've got a dedicated team working on the management of homologated parts from the first race of this season right the way through to the end of 2021.

"It does require a lot of management, it's a brand new topic for everybody, we've never done it before, and we have to implement it really rather quickly. It's a challenge, but it's the same for everybody, and we're happy to do it."

Green notes simplicity of breaking component rules

Touching on the subject of a possible violation of these new rules within the sport, Green explained how simple it could be for a team to mistakenly fall foul of the new system.

He spoke about how conscious the team were of making sure it stayed within the limits of using only approved parts and also urged other teams to do the same.

"It's more the mechanical side that is frozen, and because it's frozen we can use those teams that aren't designing new parts to be managing the homologated parts," Green added.

"We're really conscious that because it's new, it could be very easy to fall foul of it inadvertently.

"We're trying to make sure that all the protocols are in place so we don't fall foul of it - inadvertently meaning that someone doesn't pick up a homologated part, rubs it with a file and changes it, puts it back on the car, and then you've breached your homologated component rule. It can be as draconian as that."