Formula 1 delays introduction of ‘green’ engines until 2014
By Andrew Benson
BBC Sport
Ferrari were opposed to restricting car engines to four cylinders
Formula 1 bosses have agreed to delay the introduction of new 'green' engines by a year until 2014.
The move comes after opposition to the early switch to 1.6-litre turbo engines fitted with extensive hybrid technology from the current 2.4-litre V8s.
As part of the compromise, the new engine formula will be for six-cylinder engines rather than the four-cylinder units that were originally agreed.
That is a sop to Ferrari, who objected to the restriction to four cylinders.
The sport's longest-serving and most powerful team had objected because the restriction had no relevance to any of their road cars.
The changes to the rules, which were agreed at a meeting of the F1 Commission on Wednesday, must be approved in a fax vote of the World Council of governing body, the FIA, on Monday.
This is expected to be a formality, even though F1 commercial boss, Bernie Ecclestone - who sits on both the F1 Commission and the World Council - favours the retention of the current normally aspirated engines.
The rules were originally voted through by the World Council last December, but in the intervening months, considerable opposition within F1 became clear.
Of the current engine manufacturers, only Renault were completely in favour. Ferrari objected to the restriction to four cylinders, and Mercedes were concerned about the speed of the introduction of the rules.
The debate was made more difficult because Renault made clear that it would consider quitting F1 unless the new rules were introduced - the French company is planning for three-quarters of its road-car engines to be small-capacity turbo-hybrids by 2015.
This new rule, which requires engines to be in a V6 configuration, is a compromise that takes each party's view into account.
The change in cylinder numbers and the one-year delay are the only significant changes to the new rules to have been agreed, according to sources at the FIA.
The decision to limit the engine configuration to a V6 rather than stipulate a six-cylinder maximum and leave it up to individual manufacturers to decide the number of cylinders and layout, was made in a bid to keep costs under control and as a way to ensure engine performance remains as equal as possible.
The new engines will remain single-turbo units, with much more extensive use of energy recovery than exists with the 'Kers' units this year.
The new rules have been pushed by FIA president Jean Todt, who wants F1 to embrace sustainability and be more road-relevant in the future.
The aim is to improve the efficiency of F1 engines by as much as 35%, as well as to popularise hybrid and other energy-efficient technologies to speed up their adoption in road cars.
The hope is that the adoption of the new rules will insulate the sport from charges of wastefulness at a time when supplies of fossil fuels are diminishing and there is pressure for the world to cut its production of greenhouse gases.
Developments such as energy recovery are being increasingly implemented by road-car manufacturers.
But the hope is that by using them in F1, these technologies will become 'sexy' and be used more widely, in the same way as semi-automatic gearboxes have since their invention by Ferrari in F1 in 1989.
Care has been taken to ensure the performance of cars will not be affected and total power outputs will remain at current levels - approximately 750bhp. The new engines will not run at more than 12,000 revs per minute - current F1 engines spin at 18,000rpm.
By adopting the regulations, F1 hopes to widen its appeal to sponsors - commercial insiders say some companies are reluctant to get involved in F1 because of its image of being wasteful with resources.
A series of checks and balances have been written into the regulations to keep costs down and to ensure it should be impossible for one manufacturer to steal a march on the others in terms of performance.
This will primarily be done through resource restriction, such as limiting the amount of people or time that can be devoted to a project.
About 600bhp of the 750bhp produced by the engines will come from the six-cylinder single-turbo engine itself, with the rest being provided by energy storage and power-boost systems.
These systems - currently known in F1 as Kers but more widely referred to as hybrids - were first used in F1 in 2009 before being abandoned for 2010, and were reintroduced this season.
For 2013, the power capacity of the Kers systems will be increased from 60kw to 120kw.
Fuel consumption will be restricted both by limiting fuel flow and introducing a maximum capacity for races.
In subsequent years, complex new turbocharging technology called compounding may be introduced to further enhance efficiency.
The regulations have been framed to encourage the pursuit of efficiency in engine design, dramatically increasing the amount of power that can be produced per litre of fuel burnt.
F1 ENGINE RULES FROM 2014
- 1.6-litre, six-cylinder turbos with energy recovery and fuel restrictions to replace current 2.4-litre normally aspirated V8s
- Fuel efficiency to increase by 35%
- Maximum revs of 12,000rpm
- Power of energy-recovery systems to double
- Overall power to remain at approx 750bhp
- Checks and balances to ensure costs are contained and performance across all engines remains comparable
- Plan for advanced 'compound' turbos to be introduced in subsequent years
Credit: BBC (www.bbc.co.uk)
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