Whatever one might think, as FIA president, Jean Todt has made clear, there will be no return to the old ways of Formula One, and those, like Lewis Hamilton, dreaming of a return to screaming V12s and V10s can forget about it, for hybrid is here to stay.

While the 2021 rules and regulations have yet to be announced, far less agreed upon, the sport is already looking ahead to 2025 when the engine formula is due for overhaul. Originally, it too was to be revised in 2021 but has now been postponed for a further four years.

Speaking in Canada, when asked what sort of engine formula he would like to see, Toto Wolff had no words of comfort for Hamilton or those fans (drivers and team bosses) still yearning for the 'good old days'.

"We are in the middle of a transition of technology," said the Austrian, "at least on the road car side, and as much as we, most of us, are fans of the loud, traditional engines, it not where the technology goes and where the perception on sustainability goes - so I believe we've done the right thing in keeping the regulations almost stable for the next term - because it would have caused a tremendous amount of development to come up with the new formula.

"Also, it is not quite clear where this next generation of power unit actually should be," he continued. "Listening to our chairman of Daimler, we expect 50 per cent of our fleet to be either hybrid or electric by 2030, so I think if this is the direction technology goes, we could as well have an engine that will have a higher hybrid component, renewable energies or electricity.

"Today, it's maybe around 20 per cent, maybe that ratio's going to go to 50 per cent. As long as it's an exciting engine - the sound is something that we need to address or at least talk about it - but I believe the hybrid component is going to increase after 2025."

"We need to discuss again and start again, what should be the pinnacle of Formula One race PU technology," added Honda's Toyuharu Tanabe. "I believe the same thing as Toto. We keep a hybrid and then what we can do is improve the current principle of the current Formula One PU."

"We all like a loud, screaming V10 or V12 but that is not, in this time, it is just not acceptable any more," said Guenther Steiner. "So, I think I would like that Formula One stays current in technology with what is happening.

"The engine manufacturers know what it needs to be: it needs to be sustainable, adding more electrical element, as Toto said, so, I go with them. For me, the point is, we need to stay up with technology in F1 and not go back to what I like, because I was young then."

"Currently we have a power unit which is on a very, very high technical level," added Franz Tost, "and, unfortunately, this has not been communicated in a way the power unit deserved.

"We have a small engine, two energy recovery systems and all these components together is the technology for the future because with this engine also in a normal street car, maybe you can do 100km with one litre, two litres of fuel, and then you come home with a filled battery.

"They all are talking about the electric cars, and I'm just asking where from do they get the energy? It's not like in Formula E when 20 cars are outside on the track and behind there are 50 diesel aggregates spending their energy. This is nothing serious in my opinion - but the great manufacturers go to the Formula E or have built electric cars. I'm just asking where they get the energy from?

"I think we have, in Formula One, the technology for the future. As Toto said, maybe the hybrid part, electric part will increase to 40 per cent or even more. That's fine, but from the technology itself, for me, this is the solution for the future."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by GrahamG, 08/06/2019 19:13

"Whatever the engine configuration the biggest deviations from "road relevance" are the total dependance on obscure and meaningless aero and tyre performance. Whatever the engine in the back the thing people see and are aware of are the silly aero tweaks and the endless succession of tyres which either don't last or don't perform.
If F1 wants to contribute to the future of engine development it needs to be less prescriptive and more open to innovation and new ideas and concepts. Real change is currently stifled by regulations."

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2. Posted by phantom, 08/06/2019 18:55

"Well, I gave up watching races live a few years ago (boring), but usually catch my 'home' Grands Prix (Italy and Canada) out of nostalgic purposes. Now I agree with Uffen. How can a car that gets, what, 3 km to the liter be road=relevant? Unable to stay within 100 meters of another car? That relies on downforce in order to make a corner? Although I can take the hairpin in Monaco at the same speed as a F1 car in TR3...

Thank you rear-view and side-view mirrors, F1. Now I'll go back to qualifying in Canada, watch the race tomorrow, then catch highlights until Monza."

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3. Posted by C5, 08/06/2019 17:26

"Edit: 200 mph should have been 200 km/h..."

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4. Posted by C5, 08/06/2019 17:13

"I'd like to see rules something like this:
- Car can be max x mm long.
- Car can be max x mm wide.
- Rear tires must be x mm wide and x mm circumference.
- Front tires must be min x mm wide, maxx mm wide, and min x mm circumference.
- Car can have max x kgs aerodynamic straight line downforce @ 200 mph.
- Car can lose no more than 10% aerodynamic down force when following within 15, 50 and 100 meters behind itself within 10 meters either side of the center line.
- A car get an energy budget allowance varying for each race, but roughly equivalent to xx MJ (where xx = 60% of the theoretical energy potential of 100 kg commercial 95 octane gas).
- No adding of energy ("refueling") is allowed during the race.
- At no point can more than x KW of energy be applied to the driving wheels.
- At no point can the car exceed x km/h or any logintudinal g forces higher than x G, or any sideways vectored g forces higher than x G. The FIA or race stewards may impose additional limitations for specific races or corners at any time.
- A car must meet and exceed the driver and spectator safety requirements listed in [long list].
- Each car must be serviced (physically touching or on any way adjusting or analyizing settings or data, including telemetry data) by no more than 18 individuals.
- No settings may be adjustable but by the driver whenever the car is not fully inside the pit garage.
- No exotic materials on the [long] prohibited list may be usen anywhere on the car or in its production or servicing, unless explicitly excepted.
- A car must cost no more than x $ to produce in race-ready configuration. A team is obliged to sell any number of cars to any buyer (only subject to technology export restrictions to certain countries) at this price, if ordered and paid in full between the first official pre season test and the third race of the season, for delivery no later than 3 months after the end of the last race of the season.
- No team is permitted to race any parts to which they or their paid suppliers do not hold the copyright. Further, a team must design and hold the copyright themselves to [a list of parts and subcomponents].
- Anything not expressly prohibited is permitted. Prohibited actions, designs, technologies, and agreements include [very ling list]. The FIA or the race stewards can add any item to the list at any time, with immidiate or a stated date of affect.

That should get the creativity flowing I should think... :-)"

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5. Posted by Uffen, 08/06/2019 15:16

"F1 was never road relevant. Do people now think that the 3.0 litre engines of the seventies that revved to 9,000 RPM, and idled at around 2,000 RPM mattered to road cars (typical road cars - the 99%)? Were gearboxes without synchros applicable to the on-road fleet? Six point harnesses (that the driver couldn't do up himself)? Slick tires?
Come on, this whole idea is to con/persuade the ruling Boards of Directors into funding F1 teams. "

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6. Posted by nonickname, 08/06/2019 12:40

"One of the problems is that they still rely on 'petrol' .
Why not give a free slate to engines using other fuels,say hydrogen.
Left to todt (in lower case) F1 will just die. Already road cars are further down the road than F1 so the f 1 will bumble to a miserable end,or alternate fuels,or a series that has no relevance to carbon outputs.
The single biggest carbon footprint is the fuel burned by airplanes and freighters taking the teams around the world.... perhaps to improve the carbon footprint of F1 they simply stay in Europe and drop the other races.. haha"

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7. Posted by Anthony, 08/06/2019 12:39

"Toto is right. Having followed formula 1 for 50 years I have many happy memories of past eras but go to historic racing to enjoy them again. Modern F1 needs to be relevant to the world today."

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8. Posted by Malemoi, 08/06/2019 11:24

"It goes from bad to worse "

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F1 hybrid component could increase to 50%

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