19/01/2016
NEWS STORY
Following Max Mosley's warning that the engine manufacturers effectively control F1, Bernie Ecclestone and (FIA president) Jean Todt have scored an important victory over them with the news that a cost cap has been agreed.
Fuelled (no pun intended) by the high cost of engines to manufacturers, not to mention Red Bull's much publicised difficulty in securing a suitable deal, Ecclestone and the FIA sought an independent engine manufacturer who would supply those teams unwilling - or unable - to meet the financial demands of Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Honda.
When the manufacturers railroaded the idea of a new independent, and cheaper, supply, they were given a (mid-January) deadline to come up with a solution or the sport's powers-that-be would press ahead with their plan… or so they threatened.
Following yesterday's meeting of the Strategy Group, and today's meeting of the F1 Commission, the manufacturers have agreed to reduce the price of their packages from as much as €20m a year to a far more affordable €12m. The manufacturers have also guaranteed that all teams will be supplied.
The manufacturers’ capitulation to Ecclestone’s and Todt’s demands means that the independent supply move is effectively dead and buried.
For their part, the FIA agreed that the new regulations will come into force in 2018 and will remain unchanged for three years, thereby guaranteeing some much needed stability.