The current hybrid-V6 power unit will remain the sole source of power in Formula 1 until at least 2020, following agreement over cost-cutting measures during a two-day meeting in Geneva.
The Strategy Group and F1 Commission met this week to discuss a raft of proposals related to the sport. However there was a focus on engines after Bernie Ecclestone and Jean Todt tasked the teams to come up with a solution to the ‘power unit crisis’.
Ecclestone and Todt both backed an independent engine proposal which would see an indepedent manufacturer not currently linked to the sport, supplying a more powerful, but cheaper engine to any team that wanted it.
The idea behind the plan was to ensure any team could get its hands on a competitive unit at an affordable price, after both Red Bull and Toro Rosso were nearly left engine-less following a falling out with Renault.
However the majority didn’t back the idea during a team vote and were instead told to come up with their own solution.
It’s believed they – Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Honda – have agreed to guarantee engine supply to any team competing in F1, whilst also reducing the cost substantially from roughly €22 million (£17m) to just €12m (£9.2m).
The majority of the cost saving will come from standardised parts and will likely come into effect at the start of the 2018 season, once the proposals have been signed off by the World Motor Sport Council.
In further efforts to reduce costs, it has also been agreed to reduce gearbox allowance to just three per driver per season.
