Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFIA

Todt and Ecclestone given extra power in F1

The FIA has given its president Jean Todt and Bernie Ecclestone more power to make recommendations and decisions over key issues in F1.

Formula One's governance has come under intense scrutiny this season following the inability for teams to agree on power unit cost reduction, which led the FIA to start the process of introducing a new power unit regulation. While those plans are currently on hold, no significant progress has been made towards a solution regarding the cost of engines for customer teams.

With Todt and Ecclestone concerned too much power is being held by the power unit manufacturers in the sport at present, a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council [WMSC] in Paris has given them the ability to initiate changes within the sport as the pair see fit.

"The World Motor Sport Council approved, by a near unanimous number (just one vote against), a mandate for the FIA President, Jean Todt and the Representative of the Commercial Rights Holder, Bernie Ecclestone to make recommendations and decisions regarding a number of pressing issues in Formula One such as governance, Power Units and cost reduction," the FIA stated after Wednesday's WMSC meeting.

"Mr Todt and Mr Ecclestone expressed their intention to establish conclusions on these matters by 31 January, 2016."

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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.