Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsForce India

F1 right to explore independent engine - Fernley

Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley believe F1 should have an independent engine supplier to help protect independent teams.

The FIA has announced it is investigating the possibility of allowing a different type of power unit in 2017 alongside the current 1.6-litre V6 turbos, with the new unit set to be supplied at a lower cost by an independent manufacturer.

With Force India, Sauber and Lotus often grouping together to try and protect the interests of the smaller independent teams in Formula One, Fernley told F1i it makes sense to look in to opening up a tender to allow a manufacturer which is not currently affiliated with a team to enter the sport.

Asked if Force India would be interested in any new power unit introduced by an independent supplier, Fernley replied: “No, we’re contracted to Mercedes until 2020 so there’s no issues from our point of view.

“But in the same way as I value and defend vigorously the existence of independent teams in Formula One, I think the idea of an independent engine manufacturer is also right. So maybe going through the tender process we’ll find things out that maybe we hadn’t thought about. I’m not saying that decision will go there but that at least is worth exploring.”

FIA president Jean Todt has previously admitted his preference would be to simply reduce the cost of the current power units, something which Fernley says shows the move to introduce a new power unit has been “borne out of frustration”.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.