Formula 1 has laid down the framework for the sport's next generation power unit, ensuring the sport's fans that the engine of tomorrow will be "powerful and emotive".
Thursday's virtual meeting of the F1 Commission yielding a unanimous decision to put a freeze on engine development from 2022, a decision that will allow Red Bull to move forward with its plan to take over Honda's engine program.
But looking to the future, the sport's chiefs, the FIA and the teams also agreed to target a 2025 introduction of F1's next generation engine, a year earlier than originally anticipated.
To define the specification of its future power unit, which will rely once again on hybrid technology,
F1 said that "a high-level working group has been established including current and potential power unit manufacturers and fuel suppliers".
"The definition of the objectives for the next generation of F1 car and Power Unit is of the utmost importance to the FIA and Formula 1, and together with teams and Power Unit manufacturers, there is strong alignment on the overall goals – particularly the need to reduce cost and reach carbon neutrality."
The key objectives for the 2025 Power Unit are:
- Environmental Sustainability and social and automotive relevance
- Fully sustainable fuel
- Creating a powerful and emotive Power Unit
- Significant cost reduction
- Attractiveness to new Power Unit manufacturers
The words "powerful" and "emotive" will hopefully resonate with F1's fans who often label the current V6 turbo hybrid engines as unexciting, especially compared to their loud and high-pitched, normally-aspirated V10 and V8 predecessors.
Raising the rev limit, increasing fuel flow or removing the MGU-H component that partly muffles the sound are but a few ways the engines could be made louder or more harsh-sounding.
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