Categories: 2017 SeasonF1 News, Reports and Race Results

Ecclestone still expects new engine formula

Bernie Ecclestone says he expects new engine regulations to be introduced despite the idea having been voted down at a recent F1 Commission meeting.

After the FIA pushed ahead with plans to allow an independent power unit to be introduced from 2017, a meeting of the F1 Commission ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix saw the idea put on hold while engine manufacturers work to address four key issues regarding the current power units:

- Guarantee of the supply of Power Units to teams
- The need to lower the cost of Power Units to customer teams
- Simplification of the technical specification of the power units
- Improved noise

With proposals set to be put forward by January 15, Ecclestone believes the solution will still be to introduce new regulations.

"There will be certainly a different engine in the future, or a set of regulations for a new engine, which have more horsepower and be much cheaper is," Ecclestone told Die Welt. "That is clear to me."

However, Ecclestone insists he wants to keep the major manufacturers in F1 and not alienate them with any new engine.

"We want an engine from an independent manufacturer to foster competition and achieve closer power density. When I say 'independent', I mean a manufacturer who is independent of the major automobile groups.

"This does not mean that we want to drive the major manufacturers out of Formula 1, on the contrary. We just want a powerful power unit that is cheaper for each team to buy and use."

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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.