The Formula One chief executive, Bernie Ecclestone, has warned that the new regulations set to be implemented in 2017, with the engine-related rules ratified only on Friday, may be “torn up” should they not work as hoped in producing better racing.
The FIA announced on Friday that the new rules had been ratified by the World Motor Sport Council and would cover the 2017-2020 period. “The global agreement on power units covers four key areas relating to the cost and supply price, obligation to supply, performance convergence and the sound of the power units,” the statement read.
The implementation of the new regulations has been a long and torturous process, with the aero rules agreed earlier in the year, still provoking controversy. The latter looking to make cars faster and more aggressive-looking have been criticised by drivers and teams for their potential to inhibit overtaking. Yet Ecclestone, speaking in the paddock, has suggested that they may yet be changed again.
Ecclestone stressed the key part of the new rules was ensuring a convergence in engine power and that the customer engines matched those of the manufacturers. Should that not be the case, he warned: “That will all be torn up and we will start again with a new set of regulations, where the engines might be easier. The normally aspirated engines that we had were more or less equal, there were little differences, they had reached the maximum. It is just a case of bolting the hybrid stuff on and that’s where the problems would start.”
Ecclestone, in fact, has no power to independently rewrite the regulations, with any changes required to be agreed by the FIA, Formula One Management, the F1 strategy group, the F1 commission and the WMSC.
