No new engine manufacturers in Formula 1 until 2026
General
- GPblog.com
There are currently only four engine manufacturers involved in Formula 1: Mercedes, Honda, Renault and Ferrari. That's not very much, but given that three of the four teams also have customer teams, everyone is provided. There will be no new supplier in the coming years, Ross Brawn has confirmed.
New engines
No new (major) rule changes will take place until 2026, which also precludes the arrival of new suppliers. This means that the teams will have to make do with the current four suppliers in the coming years. However, it is hoped that a reset of the 'power unit' will motivate new manufacturers to join by then.
Brawn says to Motorsport.com: "It’s not that far away when teams start with a new engine. As a manufacturer you will have to be starting your engine design in 18 months if you want to get one ready." So (new) manufacturers can start halfway 2024 and of course that's a lot closer.
"So with the FIA and with the manufacturers we’re now looking at what the next powertrain should look like, and I think that’s the opportunity to get new manufacturers involved, and we need to find a design specification to do that," says Brawn.
Take it easy
At the moment there is no hurry with a new engine design, but it has been discussed recently. "Pat Symonds, Nick Hayes, Gilles Simon, Fabrice Lom, Nikolas Tombazis, we’re all working on what the powertrain should look like for the future. We know what the objectives are – relevance, the economics of it, and it’s got to be a good racing engine. We know what we want to achieve, we just haven’t defined yet what that will be."
The introduction of new engines and their design is linked to looking at a more sustainable form of fuel. It is intended that steps will be taken in this direction in the coming years. Yet everything is still at a very early stage, Brawn concludes: "But really for the moment I don’t have an idea on how the engine should look."