20/12/2014
NEWS STORY
Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that Formula One is on track to get new engine regulations for 2016 despite resistance at a meeting of the Strategy Group on Thursday according to an article in the Independent by Christian Sylt.
Ecclestone's opposition to F1's 1.6-litre V6 turbos began long before they were introduced this year. The engines lack the high-pitched screeching sound of their 2.4-litre V8 predecessors and crucially come to double the cost at around £30m annually.
It has led to Marussia and Caterham going under over the past two months and Ecclestone recently went as far as to say "the biggest problem we have is this current power unit which we don't need and does nothing in the world for Formula One. It's expensive, in fact it's very expensive, and this is probably what has caused most of the problems."
In a bid to solve the problem Ecclestone suggested returning to the V8s and proposed this to the Strategy Group. It comprises the FIA, six leading teams and Ecclestone who says that despite his best efforts, the plan did not get off the grid.
"Nobody wants to change the engines, they are all happy. The engine situation is unchanged. Everything is more or less unchanged. It's not exactly great progress. The next step is that we will have another meeting in January and the teams will have to come back with something positive. If they don't, we will say this is how it has got to be."
Reports from Germany concur with this and suggest that although Ecclestone's proposal did not produce a "definitive result", F1 is now on track to get a new set of regulations for 2016. "The engines are to be louder, more powerful and cheaper," said one report adding that "the goal is 1,000 horse power and a cost of 10 million Euros per team." It claimed that a working group will deliver feedback on this by the end of January which reflects Ecclestone's deadline.
The V6 engines are due to be in place until the end of 2020 and although 2016 is up for grabs, Ecclestone says the only way they could be changed for next year is through a unanimous vote from all the teams. "You're never going to get that because Mercedes will never agree," he says. "For 2016 we would get away without it being unanimous. That's for the January meeting. These people don't seem to making any big effort to save on costs."
He is referring to the Strategy Group blocking a £120m cap on team budgets in April. It would have levelled the grid and could have prevented Caterham and Marussia from going under.
Marussia may seem to be past the point of no return having sold nearly 1,000 pieces of equipment in an auction earlier this week to pay off its bills. However, the team still owns its coveted F1 grid slot and Ecclestone says that if it can make it to the start of next season it will be entitled to an estimated £34m of prize money so in fact it can still be saved.
"If Marussia can find somebody who can prove they have enough money to run for the whole year, and we agree they are right, we would leave things as they are."
Ecclestone himself got a boost this week when he was re-appointed to the board of F1's parent company Delta Topco after stepping down earlier in the year to battle a bribery trial in Germany. In August he paid a record £60m settlement and although he is still facing related charges in Germany they are civil, rather than criminal. In August his lawyer told Pitpass that the civil case against Ecclestone has "no chance at all."
Nevertheless, his position as F1's boss has still been the subject of great speculation since then. It was recently reported that drinks company boss Paul Walsh would become F1's chairman and take over some of Ecclestone's duties. However, the brakes were put on this plan on Thursday when Walsh became a director, but not chairman, of F1.
"He was never offered the job. It was never discussed by the board so he was never offered it," says Ecclestone. F1's current chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe reportedly needs to stand down due to a long term illness and Ecclestone says "we will find somebody. Lots of people are in the frame. It's a case of finding who we think is the right person. It will probably come up at the next board meeting next year. I don't want to be chairman. That's the last thing I need."