Teams need identical engines, software, fuel - Newey

Adrian Newey says manufacturers should be forced to provide identical engines, software and fuel to their customers to make F1 more competitive.

Mercedes and Ferrari won all 19 races of the 2015 season between them, with Mercedes dominating for the second season in a row. Since the introduction of new power unit regulations in 2014 a customer team has yet to win a race and Red Bull's Newey says the way to level the playing field is to ensure the supply to all teams is exactly the same as the manufacturer uses.

"The actual physical engine has to be the same, the ones supplied to the customer teams," Newey told The National. "But it’s not just the physical hardware, it’s also the petrol and the software. So the first thing you can do is to change the regulations so that customer teams have the same software and the same fuel, if they wish to, as the works team.

"The second problem – how do you then maybe get new people in, Audi perhaps, is a more complicated one. The cost now to compete for the manufacturers in F1 now is huge, well over €200 million (£150m) a year. Probably nearer €300m. So it’s huge.

"An alternative which is being proposed by the FIA is that there should be a different engine, an FIA engine, that the small teams can use, an engine that will be competitive. I think that will be a very good solution. But the manufacturers don’t want it, so it’s a battle."

Newey has previously described the current power unit regulations as "very unhealthy" due to the level of dominance enjoyed by Mercedes.