Sergio Marchionne is finally warming up to Formula One's plans for the future, the Ferrari boss saying he's "encouraged" by the sport's latest engine proposals, but also keeping his quit threat on the table.
The 65-year-old Fiat-Chrysler executive adopted a hard-line attitude last November when Liberty Media tabled its first draft of the new engine rules that shall be introduced in 2021, believing the proposal's global vision did not cater to Ferrari's interest and, if enforced, could lead to the legendary Italian outfit's departure from F1.
Since, the future regulation platform has evolved on the back of discussions between the sport's commercial rights holder, the FIA and the teams.
Marchionne addressed the topic yesterday, speaking to analysts during Ferrari's first quarter conference call and adopting a somewhat more conciliatory tone than in the past.
"I’m encouraged by the change in the attitude that we are seeing from Liberty in terms of the extent of the changes that they’re forecasting in 2021," he said.
"Probably the biggest indication has been the recognition of the fact that the engine regulations need to reflect sort of the nature of the sport. And we can’t really dumb down engine development just to accommodate new entries, right?
"So the stuff that’s on the table now is potentially workable as a system. The economics are not," he added.
"I think that’s something that we need to go back to Liberty with."
The framework for Formula One's future rules will likely include some form of budget cap and a more equitable distribution to teams of the prize money pool.
While keeping a hybrid and road relevant approach to F1 engine technology, Liberty has vowed to bring down the cost of power units in the future to rein in costs and help attract new independent engine manufacturers.
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"I think we now have enough of a basis to try start having meaningful discussions. And hopefully, we’ll get it all resolved by the end of this year one way or the other," added the Ferrari chairman.
"The important thing for us... is that we don’t touch the nature of the technical development of the powertrains because that is at the heart of what Ferrari does for a living.
"I think we need to continue to work with Liberty with the commercial rights holders and with the (governing) FIA to try and bring about a sensible equilibrium. If we can’t, as I said before, we’ll just pull out.
"But we’re not there today. I think we owe the sport a phenomenal effort to try and bring about closure of these items. We’ll try and get that done before the end of this year."
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