Engine freeze imminent

Giving the keynote speech at the annual Motorsport Business Forum in Monaco, FIA President Max Mosley said that a ten-year freeze, which he confirmed recently would be implemented, would now come into being sooner than expected.

And, according to him, it will allow 'green' technology to be introduced into motorsport's top echelon.

"The biggest element in our new approach to F1 is with the engine," Mosley said. "A full engine freeze is very imminent now. Why are we doing that?

"The F1 racing engine is fully developed, there is no need to develop an F1 engine any further. The engine runs at 19,000rpm, which is far faster than any comparable engine. It sounds good, it's reliable and, amazingly, the six partially-frozen engines of the current manufacturers are really evenly matched.

"Instead, we will allow manufacturers to spend money on technology which is really useful. The first part of that is the KERS [Kinetic Energy Recovery System] device, which we are introducing in 2009. This is exactly the sort of thing that F1 should be doing because it has a need to show that it is useful.

"It is necessary to demonstrate to society that F1 is doing something useful because every major sponsor has an environmental impact committee and it is absolutely essential for F1 teams to be able to demonstrate to major companies that they are able to really make a contribution."

Also speaking at the forum was Dr Burkhard Goeschel, the chairman of the Formula One Manufacturers' Advisory Commission and a BMW executive.

He echoed Mosley's sentiments, saying that anything Formula One can do to make their technology more relevant to road cars would be a good thing.

"Formula One should be road car relevant," he said. "The car industry has a big challenge in improving the efficiency of cars and to reduce CO2.

"With a move towards more hybrid, and eventually electric, cars, energy storage is the most important development process which is taking place in the car industry at the moment. F1, with the introduction of KERS and heat recovery devices, is therefore at the leading edge.

“Raising engine speed from 19,000rpm to 20,000rpm is not relevant for the car industry, but KERS and heat recovery are, and I can tell you that Formula One has made a step to the leading edge of technology. It is driving this process forward.”