Time has shown that when it comes to engines, it's a classic case of win on Sunday sell on Monday. F1 engine development is more restricted than it has ever been, yet where are the hoards of back street suppliers like we were promised when the engine freeze came into place? Nowhere. Instead we've lost the likes of BMW and Honda because they aren't allowed to showcase their engine technology. Even back when Ferrari/Schumi were dominating, everyone knew the BMW motor was the class of the grid and it led them to pump millions more in R&D so that they could say look at our M5, it uses the same V10 technology found in our F1 engines. The whole concept of mandating high cost engines (as is the case now, and in 2014) and expecting to attract investment is fundamentally flawed (especially while the teams are forced to pump HUNDREDS of millions into useless aero development). If you want to standardise engines put some ****ing OTC V8s in and don't bother wasting millions per year on R&D on these fancy V6/TERS systems. Oh, and I bet my bottom dollar they'll use hardly any more fuel than these new "efficient" engines coming in in 2014.
Mark my words, we're looking at grim times ahead with a max of 3 (Ferrari,Merc,Renault) engine suppliers in 2014.
You will notice that more and more cars are being turbocharged, with 4 cylinder turbocharged BMW's and Audis becoming the rage. It's where the entire industry is heading, and that's one of the reasons formula 1 is aligning themselves with that technology. That's why NASCAR went to fuel injection. There is a strong need these days to
appear environmentally responsible while burning tonnes of fuel going around in circles, regardless of what the facts may be.
BMW's new M5 is turbocharged, the same technology to be found in the new engine formula. Not sure what you're on about. BMW said, just 10 years ago, that they would never turbocharge an M car.
A virtual slap in the face of Audi and Mercedez who were supercharging and turbocharging their M-car copies. Things change, bro.
One thing we can be happy about is that Max egomaniac is gone. They won't get it right all the time, but at least there will be consensus on the way forward, and the FIA will accept when they go down the wrong route. We've had to suffer with Max's bad decisions; continually raising the front wings, grooved tires, v8's and then rev-limts one year later, etc. They've been doing a great job of fixing those issues, and some may not like DRS, but if you're 1 second a lap faster, you can actually pass someone. I love what they're doing.