FIA push ahead with standardisation

Following Honda's withdrawal from Formula One, the FIA have sent a letter to the teams, strengthening its beliefs that cost cutting in Formula One is imminent and an absolute requirement for the future of Grand Prix racing.

In his first letter, Max Mosley replied to FOTA's propositions. It appears that the teams have suggested the design of a V6 engine by 2011, focused on reduced running and development costs. It is however the belief of Mosley that a, possibly standard, engine regulation is needed as of 2010 in order to drastically reduce costs.

The Formula One teams has also suggested on a Formula to supply engines to any other team for €5 million, but the governing body insists that such amount of money, possibly less, must incorporate the complete powertrain, thus including an engine and the complete transmission.

Aside from the engine and transmission supply, the FIA will also revise the chassis regultions, preferrably in cooperation with the FOTA. As such, the idea is to make a list of all current car components and decide which can remain a performance differentiator and which must be standardised in order to reduce costs.

Additionally, in a second letter Mosley has disclosed the partners that the FIA is currently negotiating with for the supply of a standard engine: "Further to my letter of 18 November (copy attached for convenience), we have completed the tendering process and are now in exclusive negotiations with Cosworth together with Xtrac and Ricardo Transmissions (XR) to supply a complete Formula One power train starting in 2010. The engine will be a current Formula One engine while the transmission will be state-of-the-art Formula One and a joint effort by two companies which already supply transmissions to most of the grid."

As such, every Formula One team in 2010 will have three options regarding its engine and powertrain. They can either opt into the suggested standard Cosworth engine, or build their own engine identical to the Cosworth, or continue to use their current engine after equalisation of performance of all engines.

In any case, all F1 teams will have to use the XR transmission.

More information can be found in Max Mosley's letter to the teams:
Letter from FIA President to F1 Teams - 05.12.2008