Liberty Media, the company that owns Formula 1, will be making several announcements regarding the sport in upcoming weeks. The first announcement is set for October 21st and will deal with the new engine rules for the 2021 season. The second announcement, due the week of November 7th, will deal with the proposed budget caps for the series. Both the engine rules and possible budget caps have been hot topics in Formula 1 and every major team has weighed in on both subjects.
Engines rules are always a hot topic in racing
The heart of any car, and therefore any racing series, is the engine.
Over the years many rules and rule changes have occurred in Formula 1. Engines have changed from turbo boosted to normally aspirated to back again. They have ranged in size from V6 to V12 and the sounds they have made have spanned the spectrum of high pitched sound to the low rumble they now make. The companies that manufacture the engines have also been a source of debate. The engine rules, and how they change, will make room for the possibility of different manufacturers joining the Formula 1 ranks, including Porsche and Cosworth. Both of the aforementioned companies have joined in the meetings of the Power Unit Working Group that Liberty Media has put on.
At the present time, the engine packages are very complex.
This makes the engines extremely expensive and high maintenance. Many teams are looking for other manufacturers and possible manufacturers are looking for a less complicated and less expensive package. In addition, fans have complained that the current package put in place in 2014, don’t have that signature Formula 1 sound that they long for.
Ross Brawn has stated he would take that into consideration when putting together the new rules and regulations.
Bringing soaring budgets back down to Earth
Formula 1 teams have faced another challenge in recent years and that is the growth of the size of the budgets necessary to run in the series. Large teams like Scuderia Ferrari and Petronas Mercedes have budgets that dwarf the smaller teams and it shows.
Those are clearly the teams to beat in every race. Moreover, in recent years several teams have had to close their doors, unable to continue to fund a team with such massive costs.
Liberty Media is seeking to level the field of competition some and enable the smaller teams to have a chance to win as well. Needless to say, the larger teams are not happy about this. Ross Brawn, however, has hinted that there are other possible options such as focusing on the technical end of things instead of the financial. Brawn is the Technical Boss of Formula 1 and has a vast amount of experience. Brawn would like to encourage technology and innovation like Formula 1 saw in the past.
The future of Formula 1 is changing.
The rules and regulations have always evolved, however, now the sport itself is changing. There is a shift in power, in vision, and in innovation. Whatever the future holds for Formula 1, hopefully, fans will always find the racing to be the greatest in the world.
