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Manufacturers need assurances F1 'will be relevant'

McLaren engineering chief Matt Morris has said that Formula One needs to ensure that engine manufacturers feel that the sport is still relevant to their road car business objectives.

Agreeing with comments made by Mercedes' executive technical director Paddy Lowe that talks needed to start soon about the next set of FIA technical regulations due in 2012, Morris said that including the manufacturers in those discussions was vital to the sport's long term viability.

"I think it is good to start the talks now because it’s important for the engine manufacturers that are already in to see what is happening in the future," he said.

"They need reassurance that what we are going to do in the future is still relevant to their business.

"I think also having visibility of the future could also potentially attract more engine manufacturers into our formula.

"I think for our side, the sooner we start discussing this, then the better."

Previously, Paddy Lowe had pointed out that Formula One's recent internal debate about the sound of engines in Grand Prix races was one aspect where the sport and road car technology was diverging.

"That debate started really with the issue of the sound of these engines when they arrived in 2014. It’s better now than it was back then but it doesn’t match the sound of the old V8s or the V10s but it still raises an interesting debate.

"I think road cars of the future, at some point not that far off, will be completely silent if they are all electrical so will we want noise, will we associate noise with performance or not?"

Lowe's comments had been welcomed by other Formula One technical representatives including Ferrari's Jock Clear.

"I agree with Paddy. It needs to be thought about. I think what we have learned from this cycle and this era of hybrid engines is that the power units now are very, very complicated and that it needs a lot of planning.

"I absolutely agree and we do need to think about these things, we need to think about it in the context of what the sport needs, what the public wants, what looks sexy.

"But fundamentally, it’s still a technological challenge and we need to get the technology right."

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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.