01/11/2017
NEWS STORY
With the Strategy Group due to meet next week, at which time Chase Carey and Ross Brawn will present their much anticipated plans for how the sport moves forward in terms of regulations and budgets, it was to be expected that there would be little initial reaction to the engine proposals announced yesterday.
After all, if, as has been suggested, the top four teams are to have their prize money slashed, and what remains divided on almost socialist lines between all ten teams, the engine regulations are going to be the last thing anyone worries about.
That said, Toto Wolff gave a cautious thumbs-up to the proposals, though he fears initially they will have the opposite effect and increase costs.
"The concept sounds similar, but it means a complete new development," he told Auto Motor und Sport. "That would mean that we would have to work on two engines at the same time between 2018 and 2020."
Indeed, the higher rev limit means wear and tear, while the turbocharger has to be re-designed without the MGU-H not to mention the overhaul of the MGU-K.
"It is a vision and not a regulation," said Wolff of the proposal. And it's only their vision, not the manufacturers.
"It is important to define together what Formula 1 in 2021 represents and what attributes an engine should have," he adds. "That must then be a target on which we all work.
"It is at best the starting point of a dialogue, and nothing that we have agreed to in form. Certain things are right, but not fully."
Looking ahead to next week's meeting, he said: "It is important to know how Formula 1 will continue in general from 2021," he said. "Only talking about a specific regulation like the engine is not enough. Before that, there must be an understanding of how we will see Formula One in the future."
Nonetheless, the Austrian emphasises that there is a long way to go and that in these initial stages it would be foolhardy to rock the boat.
"I want to make it clear that there are different opinions," he said. "It was a presentation by the F1 management, not the manufacturers. We will now wait and see what will be put on the table next week and start a dialogue from there."