Abiteboul warns against reviving engine 'arms race'

Renault F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul has spoken out against the latest plans for the sport's technical future.

New owners Liberty Media announced their vision for Formula 1's engine specifications from 2021 on Tuesday.

They retain the basic current architecture of the 1.6-litre V6 hybrid. However, power is upped to 3000rpm and the MGU-H would be dispensed with in favour of more kinetic energy recovery systems.

That didn't impress Abiteboul and his team, however, which from next year will include the former head of the FIA's F1 technical department, Marcin Budkowski.

"Despite maybe what FOM and FIA would say, what is put forward is a new engine," Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.

"It is a new engine with lots of gimmicks, but it is a new engine. And that is really for me the most fundamental element.

"We need to be extremely careful," he cautioned.

"Each time we come up with a new regulation that will come up with a new product – new engine or new chassis – we all know what is the impact.

"It is going to open an arms race again, and it will open up the field once again."

• F1 reveals new engine format details for 2021

"Renault's proposal for six months now has been to keep the current engine," he explained. "But waiving any type of fuel restriction in terms of fuel quantity, plus moving the fuel flow limitation and also the rev limit.

"The great thing about that proposal is that you could do that without having to wait until 2021.

"The world is changing quickly. By 2022 a number of car makers will have moved to something that is much more electrified than today.

"I think the timing to decide now what we want for the period 2021 to 2026 is maybe not appropriate."

However, Abiteboul did welcome the fact that the new Formula 1 management had made its plans available to the teams.

"It is good to get a starting point," he said. "But clearly we see that as a starting point and hopefully not as the end point."

"I think it is not a bad thing to have a vision," he added. "I think it was a long time coming to understand what was Liberty's stance on a number of topics."

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff agreed with Abiteboul that the proposals represented "massive change" to Formula 1.

"It is an all-new engines, with new harvesting and deployment strategies for energy," he said. "It will trigger parallel development costs over the next three years."

Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene was also less then thrilled. He even hinted that Ferrari might use its veto to stop the plans in their current form.

That's received an angry reaction from Red Bull boss Christian Horner. He's accused the big two manufacturers of protecting their current dominant position by blocking significant reforms.

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