FOTA claims new engine regulations designed to bring new manufacturers in Formula 1
Formula One Teams Association along with people like Adrian Newey claim that the new engine regulations are going to be enforced by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) to attract more manufacturers to Formula 1.
Martin Whitmarsh, the chairman of FOTA stated some time ago that the teams would be more comfortable with a V6 engine rather than a four-cylinder engine and that is what is going to happen now.
However, Whitmarsh claims that the engines will have to be regulated in order to keep the attraction.
“It's an issue of risk management. It sounds strange but we're in a situation at the moment where there are three manufacturers - well three automotive manufacturers and one independent manufacturer - in Formula One,” he said.
Adrian Newey claims that the FIA wanted to go with the 4-cylinder plan mainly because of the fact that Audi, the German car manufacturers, were interested in becoming a part of the sport as well. But since the officials of Audi have suddenly changed their
minds, it seems that the officials of Formula 1 are now acting more flexible as a result of which this recent decision took place.
Other than that, Whitmarsh stated that the engine manufacturers should be allowed to play around with the engine designing as much as they want but increasing or decreasing the number of cylinders for some of the manufacturers could become risky.
“Typically, the regulations although they are fixed they in truth evolve, and I think what would happen if you had a range of engines after a year probably it would be clear that either a V6 or a straight four or one solution was right. And at which point
the manufacturer that has developed one of the alternatives has to reinvest all that money,” he added.
As a result, the FOTA chairman believes that the risk should be reduced as much as possible and he is hoping that the number of manufacturers increases in 2014 in order to make the sport more unpredictable and enjoyable.
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