Steve Taylor 0:00

Sam, good to uh catch up with you. Technical chat for me, so please be nice with me while they're explaining this. The boost monitoring rules for 2026 have changed. We'll come to that in a second. But just first of all, tell me how this boost system works and when it comes into play.

Sam Riches 0:16

So for 2026 we've uh gone to an automated system and what it's currently doing is uh live monitoring the the prescribed boost levels that each engine type is permitted to uh use. So that's a maximum number, we then have a little bit of a grace period, and then anything above that is effectively the entrant using more boost than they are permitted to use, and we are monitoring that live and then making a reduction automatically on the car for a set period of time. So I've heard this phrase over boosting. You're smiling. Talk me through that one. So overboosting uh is a very crude way of explaining it, but fundamentally the the turbo is a mechanical spinning mass, so it it reacts uh like a wheel does. It it it takes time, there's inertia in it. It's not an instant switch, it's not digital, it's not on or off. It ramps up, it ramps down. So overboosting is uh where the engine uh uh uses more boost uh than the prescribed amount we give it. So that's the limit that that you said. So so what are those limits? So they're different for each engine. Uh they're based on a series of uh tests that we do at the beginning through the homologation cycle where we airflow test the engine and a combination of inlet pressure and uh valve lift, we create a number that gives the engine builder the ability to achieve the same nominal horsepower across the grid.

Steve Taylor 2:01

Okay. So we've got this real-time monitoring now, which suggests to me previously it was done afterwards when you downloaded data from the engine mapping.

Sam Riches 2:10

Yeah, so that's exactly right, Steve. We used to get all the data back, uh, download it, enter it into a workbook, other we call it, that automatically used to look at the data, extract the um the figures, we'd then post-process that. So we were probably a couple of hours after the race confirming that everybody was okay. Um and then there was other variables involved in that because there was always there's always a reason somebody could have a technical problem, etc. etc. So this way the the live nature of it means it's it we refer to it as crime and punishment. You commit a crime, you serve a punishment straight away. There's none of this, you know. Wait ten days, wait for the court to tell you what's going on, then you deal with it.

Steve Taylor 2:59

So, in simple terms, all of the cars that are on track, you have a monitoring system, you're watching, you and your team are watching what's going on. You spot an infringement, let's call it that. You flag this up to the team, do they then have the opportunity to do something about it?

Sam Riches 3:13

So we're not flagging anything live ourselves, but they have access in the the way the data system works, they have access to these channels, and um they can put the channels that uh tell them that they're in penalty or not on the driver's dash, so it will flash up on the dashes, so they'll know themselves, uh, but we effectively are only looking for a one and a zero, we're looking for good boy, bad boy.

Steve Taylor 3:43

So bad boy flashes up. Yep. What then happens? Can the driver change something? Can the team change something?

Sam Riches 3:49

So the car automatically, or we automatically tell the ECU to reduce by our set amount, then the team react and the engine builder react to the new target, uh, and then to stay within that, they the driver has the ability through some maps to go up or down target to be closer, slightly further away. So if they've been building up, because this is a certainly in race, we'll talk about racing, but in the races it's a a race-long thing, it's not specific to a lap, whereas in qualifying it's lap-based, but in a race, you've got the entire race to get up to this sort of little threshold leniency window. Um so they can uh tweak their target to be just below it, just above it. So if they want if they're getting too close to it, they could go over it a little bit to then get themselves clear for the next push or by the end of the race, because they've got to be clear by the end of the race. Right.

Steve Taylor 4:43

Okay, so you're in bad boy mode, you break the rules, let's be fair, rules are rules, aren't they?

Sam Riches 4:48

Yeah.

Steve Taylor 4:48

What happens?

Sam Riches 4:49

What's the the penalty procedure? So during the race, I'm actually ready, relaxed. If you do it during the race and you are in penalty state, you have it's up to you to get yourself out and into good space. Penalty state is where you've been notified that there's a problem. Yeah. Um once you're clear, you're clear, fine. It only really becomes a problem at the end of a lap in qualifying, or the end of a lap in a the e the last lap in the race. And that's because in a lap in qualifying, if they've overboosted during the lap, that's effectively gained an advantage by having more boost pre engine boost pressure than they are permitted to do. The lap gets automatically deleted. In a race, we now have a sliding scale. Tech in British motorsport, technical infringements, that's what this would is class at, are normally black and white. You're either in or you're out. There's no middle ground. So by doing this, we've uh we've now got three stages. So if they're a little bit over, they get a five-second penalty. If they're a medium bit over, it's a ten-second time penalty. We still ultimately have the you're really, really over, it's still disqualification, but that's the that's like the maximum measure. You know, as you sa as we saw at Donington, the cup people got a five-second penalty, and that was them not being clear of the penalty state, but still they were working their way there, but they just mistimed it. They hadn't got to the end yet. So that's where we that's that's the beauty of it. It's now fully within their control to s to manage the end of the race being in that clear state, whereas previously it was after the race and it was either you're in or you're out. And no one likes the ultimate result, but sometimes it has to be there.

Steve Taylor 6:47

Absolutely. And and just for clarity, this isn't anything to do with the TTB, the Toka Turbo Boost, is it?

Sam Riches 6:53

Correct, Steve. So the Toka Turbo Boost is the championship balancing success system. Uh it the CLBS is still operating during those times because it's still a boost limit, but it's they're completely separate things. One is about uh respecting the maximum values within the regulations that they are allowed to run at, and one is about the championship success ballast and giving more opportunity for overtaking and defending.

Steve Taylor 7:24

None of the rules exist simply just to be rules to make life difficult for people, do they? You're smiling now, which is good. So what what's the point of the new system and and what's its aim? What's it hoping to achieve?

Sam Riches 7:36

Its goal is to make is to give it to make it fair for everybody. So as I said previously, it was it was there was a limit, then there was a grace period per lap, uh, and then technically it was either in or out. So it was a very sharp knife-edge thing. This way, it's all within the team's hands, they've all known about it, they've all had it. It it means that we don't spend a load of time nagging them to be below the limit. They can see it live, they've got every session to fine-tune it, and as racing engineers, they'll push the limit. But that's their job, and our job is to keep it fair and within that, and means that what you see on track is representative of uh representative for everybody, not swayed in one way or the other.

Steve Taylor 8:26

Is the did this system come into play and the penalties come into play at Donington Park?

Sam Riches 8:30

Yes, so the uh so Donington Park 2026 was the first time it was live for everybody. It's been working in the background since about not kill last season, and the teams have had access to it since early 2026 in terms of Dyno Prep and work and work, so they've all had it for plenty of time.

Steve Taylor 8:50

You happy with the way it's working, and and how much earache have you had? Because there's bound to be some, isn't there?

Sam Riches 8:58

I was very pleased that all the work that myself and and I can't take the credit for it, our c our technical partner Cosworth have put in to the testing and robustness of it, showed at Donlington that if they stray up if the teams stray above the maximum permitted boost values that they're allowed, there is now a consequence to it. It's immediate, it's great. In terms of how much earache I've had, I think they've all relatively been accepting of it. Um there was obviously a few instances at Donington that required some explaining, and quite rightly in the heat of the moment they're all emotionally charged. Um, but even even those guys have all have all sat down and looked at it and go, we understand how it works, it's doing what it's supposed to do, and that's all I can ask. I know that during a sat during a weekend, it's meant that the members of my team that that deal with this on a on a moment-by-moment basis haven't had to chase teams for being a little bit over all the time, so it's allowed us to concentrate on other things, it's been really pleasant. Ooh, other things you're alluding to, other I wish you could tell me, but you can't. There's there's always there's always stuff going on. There's always stuff going on, and we've always got new things to look at and new new ways to uh keep keep the 21 cars within within the white lines. Absolutely. Appreciate your time, Sam. Many thanks. Thanks, Steve.