Talk of introducing a standard engine to F1 in 2010 was so controversial that it seems to have got a life of its own despite the proposal being dead in the water.

When the FIA initially announced the possibility of a standard engine it was met with threats that car manufacturers would leave F1. Logical really given that they are in F1 to promote their own engine technology not that of another manufacturer. The proposal was then modified with the impression being that Cosworth would build an engine for sale to the teams but they could also build their own engines provided that they weren't more powerful.

Then came the 12 December World Motor Sport Council meeting which set in stone F1's cost-cutting measures. Although the phrase 'standard engine' was conspicuous by its absence from the FIA's press release about it commentators still assumed that the door had been left open on the FIA's offer of a standard specification engine. Apparently not.

"The teams and FIA have agreed not to go down this path (standard engines)," Williams' chief executive Adam Parr (right) told Pitpass' Chris Sylt in a recent email. It seems that the teams' cost-cutting proposals were so competitive that the standard engine proposal seems to have fallen by the wayside.

How things have changed from years gone by. Not only are the teams unified but they have teeth and now we can see that they are prepared to use them.