Bernie Ecclestone outlines Formula One plan

Edward Gorman, Motor Racing Correspondent, Tokyo

The landscape of Formula One is to change dramatically with the introduction of a standard engine for all cars in a move designed to make the sport cheaper for aspiring new teams.

Under a Formula One “survival” plan being drawn up by Bernie Ecclestone, the sport’s commercial rights holder, and Max Mosley, the president of the FIA, the engines would each be designed to last for half the season and would potentially reduce the hugely expensive cost of powering the race cars by up to 90 per cent within two years.

Inquiries by The Times have established that Ecclestone and Mosley are planning draconian reforms that will be imposed on the teams as the sport faces up to its environmental responsibility and the imperative to cut costs.

At present, engine development in Formula One is frozen for five years in a regime that started last year. But they are still units that are designed by each team and they are able to be replaced after every two races, so teams and manufacturers are spending tens of millions of pounds each season on “drive-train costs”, which includes spending on engines and gearboxes.

Under the new proposals there will be one standard engine specification, which each team will be able to build, but it will be identical to those of their rivals. The only difference will be the manufacturer’s name on the block. Teams without manufacturer support will have access to the same engine through an independent contractor.

The proposals represent a huge cultural and philosophical shift for an elitist sport that has always been seen as not only a competition between the best drivers in the world but a battle between some of the best engine and car manufacturers, most of whom have long and proud traditions in motor sport.

Ecclestone, who has never been one to worry about sentimentality, is determined that this reform will be put in place by the beginning of the 2010 season and that it will not fall by the wayside, as many apparently radical proposals in Formula One have done in the past.

“The thing I am most excited about is pushing and pushing and pushing the homologated engine idea,” he said yesterday, during the build-up to this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji. “The new engine will be equalised and there will only be two engine changes a year, so costs are going to dramatically come down, and I mean dramatically.”

The spectre haunting the sport is the danger that spiralling costs in increasingly difficult commercial circumstances could force out the smaller teams and leave Formula One struggling to remain a credible championship. Like Ecclestone, Mosley believes that the time has come for radical reform and he is committed to making it happen, with sources close to him underlining that the teams will be presented with a fait accompli if they do not come up with broadly similar ideas.

“There are various things we can do, but the most obvious would be to reduce the cost of the drive-train,” Mosley said after a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in Paris on Tuesday. “At present, if you can believe this, the engine and gearbox together, for an independent team, is upwards of E30 million (about £23.7 million) a year.

“That could be done for probably 5 per cent of that cost without the person in the grandstand noticing any difference at all. Even those big spenders, if they’re given the opportunity to save E100 million or E200 million a year, they’ll do so. And we’ve got various means of making sure they don’t spend the money, but it does need some draconian changes.”

Apart from discussions about engines, the WMSC was notable also for the reception given to Ecclestone after he said that he regretted having asked Mosley to stand down as president in the wake of lurid revelations in a newspaper about his private life. Ecclestone is understood to have said that, having been friends with Mosley for 40 years, “when he needed some support I should have given it to him”.

Mosley was described as “genuinely surprised” and “moved” by Ecclestone’s comments. The episode underlines that, notwithstanding the teams, manufacturers and sponsors who want Mosley out, the most powerful man in Formula One has buried the hatchet with his old friend.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/for...icle4909895.ece

The stunned silence is deafening.

As unpopular as it may sound its a necessary evil. Both economically and environmental and for competition in general. The sport really should not be about how much money a team spends. Rather how effectively they use the fund allowed. I think the sport needs to be realistic and understand that as great as it would be that not all the teams not even the most renowned can afford to be manufactures. As long as it doesn't greatly effect the sport for the viewing audience, eg the use of engines for longer periods of time. That in such ways the sport can become more environmentally friendly and encourage greater competition by making the sport more affordable. It would be great to see a whole grid full of manufactures but is it very realistic considering the demise of teams like Super Aguri?

If we can believe that, we can perhaps also believe that £50m fines are in order.

That is, if driveline costs will be cut by 90%, can we expect fines to be reduced by 90% too?

I think I just might follow sports cars. F1 seems to be chasing the IRL.

I thought it's about racing and competition first, second, and last.

champ car i think


and yes, its awful
i mean if you gonna do this, fist some more HP up some GP2 cars

OK, I might be missing something here...but what is the motivation for manufacturers to remain in the sport if "their" engines are designed by some committee, identical to everyone else's, and available to Johnny Startup from some lowest-bidder supplier? Do Mercedes, Ferrari, BMW, Renault, et al, really want to slap their names on engines not of their own design? Wasn't that largely the impetus behind their involvement in the first place?

This.

I DO NOT WANT A SPEC SERIES.

I DONT WANT A SPEC SERIES EITHER!!!


And how much saving is 25 million on a 500 million budget? Ecclestone and Mosley have gone mad and should be locked up and forced to watch the singapore GP million times over.

25 million euros is the salary of haug and dennis combined. Sack them and keep our engines.

25 million is half the fee ecclestone asks on a circuit to host f1 and he dont cut it either, even when historic tracks like rouen/silverstone, san marino and now montreal are gone.

Dont trust these idiots!! They talk more nonsense than jacky stewart.

edit: and what on earth do they want with ''equalising engine power''??? So manufacturer A sends in a design for homologation wich is more powerfull than manufacturer B and suddenly B is allowed to gain power? Whats next, equalising massa points tally with lewis before the last race of 2008 because the former had crashed out a few times and is now behind? We should call in the mentall institue and reserve a few padded cells for bernie and mosley.

Necessary evil my ass, there are plenty of spec engine low budget formulas to follow, I don't need F1 for that. I've always thought "I'll stop watching F1" threats and rambles were silly and childish, but the mere thought of a spec series with an F1 badge is so depressing I actually understand it now.

Which is of course complete rubbish.
As many people have pointed out, any money 'saved' on engines will merely be money spent on something else, like KERS, or a new wind tunnel or whatever. Teams will always spend any money they have available.

Another stupid idea by Bernie. I don't think the fans want a spec series, and I can't imagine the manufacturers wanting it. The teams will always find somewhere else to spend that 25mil anyway, so it won't reduce costs at all (and the small teams will still be at a disadvantage).

If this happens they might as well just cancel F1, and let GP2 take over. At least GP2 actually has smaller budgets.

Stick a fork innit.

Other than the PTB who gives a gnats .ass about billionare Bernie and his munchins.

Can't remember the last time I spent a quid on the troll or his minions.

You'd be right, if NASCAR didn't exist.

Bernie is once again right. In an ideal enviropment there wouldn't and shouldn't be a need for such changes but unfortunately it's a necessary evil. Even with the current restrictions concerning engine development, some teams still try through development of peripheral components to gain whatever horsepower they can which is foolish because the money they save from the engine development they throw it on developing exhaust pipes, oils, fuel etc... In the end If the teams don't change their way of thinking, no measure can stop them. It's a mutual thing, the FIA implement measures and the teams must follow them and not try to find loopholes or work around them.

Well, speachless is really the word to use.

F1 is crumbling in front of our eyes it seems.

IMO implementing a spending cap is a smarter way to go but perhaps difficult to enforce.

As always Max and co have the wrong end of the stick . As a "person in the grandstand" I DO NOT care what the manufactureres spend - it's their problem . They are in F1 knowingly and if they don't have the budget , they will walk out - it's as simple as that. WHAT I DO CARE about is that the racing is good, overtaking is possible, FIA ai nuetral and as for teh costs - the COSTS to see a race should come down - BERNIE THATS YOU - NOT THE TEAMS.

I'm not so sure they would, and besides, I think these measures are more about saving the two or three teams that won't be on the grid in 2010 if nothing changes. This isn't to stop rich teams spending, it's to keep small teams floating.

As a fan, you would care if three teams suddenly went from the sport, because the grid would be 14 cars. Like Mosley said, that's unacceptable. The big teams will always have big pockets, but the small teams that are operating at a LOSS are the ones who will most welcome these changes.

I'd have thought a better solution to ensure a full grid, would be to allow customer cars.

But no, that makes too much sense for Bernie, Max, and the teams. They'd rather send the sport spiralling down faster than it already is by 'mandating' spec engines (I know the engines are already basically the same but this is just a little too blatant).

Seriously what is this? GP2? This is F1 for christs sake! If the teams involved want to waste a billion dollars a year, let them! That is part of the spectacle!

Let them spend half a billion a year, and if they are going to mandate anything, make it a sensible rule like forcing each team to supply a 'B' team with two cars, engine, and spares. Only the top 2 cars of each make score Constructors points and let the actual 'Constructors' keep the prize money and trophies their 'B' teams earn. This should keep the likes of Williams and Force India happy (why they could never work this little bit out in the current debate about customer cars astounds me?).

That's far too sensible...

Well if this goes ahead i expect LeMans to get a few more manufactures in it!!

There's no way to limit spending of the teams. Especially in case of big teams that can hide r&d in road car division.

The constant (usually stupid) rule changes cost the money....

The problem many fear is that the FIA has convinced itself that there is a way to limit the spending of a team; by standardization. This might seem an interesting thought at first, but it's like a snowball that gets bigger and bigger as the regulatory body attempts to keep up with the teams' diverted funds by standardizing more and more parts until you have a de facto spec series and the whole mess they created catches up to them and, in the worst case, the series collapses because it's primary participants lose all possible reason to be involved.

When Bernie takes a pay cut and starts lowering his licensing fees I know that the FIA and F1 are serious about cost-cutting.

http://www.autosport.com/journal/article.php/id/1811



Yeah, customer cars are good for the sport.

Well Mosley is talking to the teams and in particular to Luca so I would imagine any changes that are put in place will be agreed between all involved. The signs are good that an open dialogue between all parties is taking place which can only be a good thing.

Of course, you lot will still claim it's a bad idea, seeing as you all have access to the financial statements of all the teams and you know exactly how much they spend and how uneffected they are by the financial crisis.

I think the focus has shifted slightly from trying to suffocate the spending of bottomless pockets to saving smaller teams who could be very real victims of the financial climate. And Max points out that these changes will be welcomed by the bigger corporations too because at the end of the day, if they don't have to spend £50 million on an engine, they won't exactly complain.

The argument that they'll just find some other thing to spend money on I think will be addressed too. But importantly, the smaller outfits will have £50 million less to spend that could be the difference between survival or failure.

Like Max said, the days of companies throwing millions and millions at F1 are over. The costs are too high and if action isn't taken, teams like Williams will be here one day, gone the next.

Amen.
Circuits charge you & I outrageous gate fees, because they need to cover the huge Bernie fees for the rights to stage an F1 race. And the circuits are still falling one by one because they can't afford what Bernie is asking, unless they are subsidised by their government.

If Bernie cut HIS fee by 90%, we'd be able to see our favourite circuits on the calendar, and maybe even get trackside without selling our kidneys. F1 audiences would swell, and a whole new generation of fans would appear, and there would be more attraction to sponsors, and it would be good for F1 all round.

I don't like the idea of 'standard' engines, but we are there now already really. This is just sealing the deal. As for it being against the 'spirit' of the sport, well I think for most people the 'glory' days of F1 were dominated by a certain off the shelf Cosworth DFV engine. That didn't kill the sport, rather it made it much more competitive.

Again, I personally don't like the idea of spec engines, but at the same time I don't think the formal introduction of one will be the death of the sport like some seem to think. Rather it may well help make the sport more competitive.

Making the drivers an increasing element of differentiation, surely that is a good thing?

bernie, bernie, bernie

havent read the article yet. . .. .. . im not sure i want to

This is typical Max, Threaten something totally outrageous so when it comes to actually doing something, the teams will accept the normally unacceptable for fear of being forced to take on the original threat.

With spec engines there will be even fewer overtakes. It's only by virtue of some people having a better engine than those they are behind that lets them get past nowadays.

The smallest team had a choice 2 years ago: either buy ferrari engines for 30 million a year, or buy cosworth units at 10 million a year. They chose Ferrari engines. So the argument we need to save the smaller teams doesnt go. They spend too much themselves and then cry f1 is too expensive? Get outa here. Have you seen the new 10 million dollar force india motorhome? F1 is doin very well. Never been better.

The other reason the 14 car grid is not realistic is their own cap on having 10 teams already. When the 11th slot came up, about 6 or 7 potential new teams aplied for that. There wil always be new teams.

In short: the colour of the wordings of mosley and bernie is deep, deep brown. Its shit.

Wake up.

Williams F1 are in debt, and their situation isn't getting any better. They are going into debt and having to borrow to stay in F1. And guess what, the banks are suddenly very nervous about borrowing anyone large sums of money right now, let alone a company that is involved in a sport.



It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that Williams are at risk of going under in the current financial climate, and it's perhaps this that has caused Bernie to change his tune and back Max on this. Perhaps someone put in a phone call and made it clear how bad the situation is out there.

The financial climate is shifting daily and it will hit next year hard.

Mosely and Bernie are changing their 'vision' for F1 every hour. What happened to the view that F1 technology should be mainly road relevant so that manufacturer's R&D resources work to the benefit of road cars as well?

Thankfully it seems the manufacturers (who are used to taking more longer term views) have stuck to this vision of F1 which I fully agree with:

Theissen and Brawn:

Wiliams is about the only one wich has some debt to consider. COmpared to what chelsea, man u and liverpool are owing it is insignificant peanuts. Besides, williams had the option to sell their team to bmw and didnt do it. They couldv downsized a lot and didnt do it. They couldv sold rosberg for a figure likely in the 20+ milion region and didnt do it. And like force india, they couldv chosen to stick with 10 milion a year cosworth but decided to get 30 milion a year toyotas.

Like with midlands/spyker/force india, we should not alter the rules because teams have bad management.

...sorry I was just reading about Moto GP

Good point.

Manufacturers will always stay in F1, I believe, even if 'committees' design their engines, cars, whatever. Fact is that Joe Average doesn't know (or care) who designs the cars, who builds them, and so on. He just sees a good race and a badge on the bonnet. It's working for NASCAR: Toyota even became a new player.

I think they're doing the best they can. At the end of the day they're in F1 for a reason, to be successful. They're not there to just make up the numbers and accept the worst drivers and the worst engines. The decisions may have resulted in some debt but they are aiming for better things like all businesses do. That's not to say things shouldn't change. There is too much cost in the sport. Forget these super rich people who come along and fund a team, they are not the long term solution.

You have the all-time best avitar ever...

Look, im one of he biggest fans of the wiliams F1 team. I think there isnst a bigger respected figure than Sir Frank Himself. But cutting costs so he can keep his private jet? Or let Patrick head fly a chopper to the Grove headquarters every day?

There are many areas they can cut corners without touching the engines. I also think williams will survive. If they where really in debt problems they wouldv downsized or sold rosberg. It might be too ambitious to try and get back to winning ways but im sure they have a plan. I think the standard engine idea is a stupid one.

O and to the nascar comparisment...that sport is not popular in europe. And if it was im sure BMW, Renault, Ferrari and Mercedes would be competing there instead of here.

Yes I agree. And engines with almost identical output will result in closer racing, and better racing if the OWG have got their calculations right. Personally I'd prefer it if they went along the route of one cheapo engine per race which may or may not last 300km, rather than these hugely reliable engines, but there you go. I don't think F1 can survive with the silly budgets the teams have at present and I think a lot of manufacturers would sooner drop out than lower there budgets until they can no longer compete effectively, so we're probably stuck on the following path.

However, with cars getting increasingly similar the teams need to be placing as much emphasis as possible on driver skill. Perhaps now would be a good time to ban fuel stops and widen tyre selection and let's see the drivers making more different: more performances like Vettel's in Monza this year could only be a good thing.

Something to break the silence ...

While her father is trying to save F1, Tamara tries to save animals:

Of course no one has mentioned the fact that, Bernie will likely get a nice cash injection for himself, no doubt selling the contract for engine supply to the highest bidder. Then charging a per year fee for it as well. Something he doesn't get currently. So its just more money for Bernie, more crap for the fans and teams, and no real benifit to the sport or its integrity.

I would ;)

I think they can save a lot by cutting motorhome dimensions to a maximum of one floor and no more costing than 700000 dolars tops. And a ban of private jets and force everyone to fly economy class with easy jet or take the train/bus when we are in europe.

I'm at work so I've not had time to read the posts yet but have a couple of points to add.

1. Obviously I don't want a spec series.

2. If a standardised engine is the way the sports going then it looks like it is going that way. If this is the case why can't there be 4 or 5 different engine designs for teams to pick from(probably at the start of the season) to at least add some varieity and competition to things. This is surely a better idea than '1 engine fits all' badge it how you want but everyone has the same engine?

Maybe they could just call the standardized engine a Cosworth and everyone would be happy.

Hmm what would that do for Mercedes, what would be their added value if they only can supply a standardised engine to McLaren?

No matter what you think of Bernie, the man does make fit daughters