UPDATE: F1 Teams Can Choose Engine Implementation

Formula 1

UPDATE: F1 Teams Can Choose Engine Implementation

F1 teams will be free to choose how to implement the FIA's imposition of a standard engine formula from 2010.

SPEED Staff / GMM | Posted October 17, 2008 Shanghai, China

Will manufacturers accept the concept of standardized power plants? (LAT Photo)

F1 teams will be free to choose how to implement the FIA's imposition of a standard engine formula from 2010.

After a bidding process for a third party supplier of engines was announced on Friday, a spokesman clarified that the mandatory aspect of the regulations will be for the use of the designated design.

"The provider will set out a detailed design for a standardized engine and either supply it in full working order or the detailed design in order to enable competitors to build their own standardized engine," the FIA official said. He added that the third party supplier would then "assist the FIA" to ensure that F1's competing manufacturers are sticking to the detailed engine design.

The standard engine proposal is highly controversial among F1's carmakers, and rumors are already circulating in the paddock that some may pull out if their technological freedom is further curtailed. The FIA, on the other hand, argues that spiraling costs have made the sport "unsustainable" and that this is the real threat to the health and size of the grid.

It is also expected that the standard engine scheme is a negotiating position, giving FIA President Max Mosley an opportunity to back down but compromise on other cost-cutting measures. For instance, Reuters reports that on the agenda for the teams' upcoming Geneva meeting with Mosley is a plan whereby manufacturers offer gearbox-engine packages to customer teams for less than 5m euro ($6.7m).

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SPEED Staff / GMM

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