Team bosses fear engine trouble

Formula One could become a billion-dollar waste of money next season, according to leading team bosses.

The teams are facing a race against time to find agreement on new engine rules, with Mercedes, BMW, Toyota and Honda keen to extract more flexibility from the FIA.

Formula One’s governing body insist teams will use 2006-specification engines between 2008-2010, under the sport’s new rules which severely limit technical development.

But that raises the prospect of teams pursuing expensive development programmes for next season’s engines, only to revert to the older units come 2008.

Midland boss Colin Kolles put the bill for that development at $1bn (€790m) while Renault chief Flavio Briatore attacked the potential waste of money.

Briatore said: “In 2007 it looks like everyone will spend an enormous amount of money just to come back in 2008 with the older engines.”

Teams must reach a deal to impose the so-called Indianapolis Agreement – which allows limited engine development post-2008 – by the end of this weekend’s French Grand Prix.

Kolles is one of the main players standing in the way of an agreement, demanding a guarantee of cheap engines in the future for independent teams such as Midland.

He is concerned that allowing some development of engines, as proposed by Mercedes, BMW, Toyota and Honda, will price out smaller teams.

“We are not asking for a free engine supply, just an engine supply at a reasonable price to secure the future of Formula One,” he said.

“The four manufacturers obviously want to have a change of regulations which would impose on us higher costs and we are all talking of reducing costs in Formula One.

“These four manufacturers prefer to spend a billion dollars in 2007 and go back to the 2006 engines.”

McLaren boss Ron Dennis is cautiously optimistic a deal can be concluded over the next two days but hinted darkly at ulterior motives.

For the manufacturers, a high-technology Formula One is imperative and Dennis voiced fears that they could be held to ransom.

He said: “It is an easily resolved issue which can comfortably be resolved over the weekend. There is a desire of the FIA to then have affordable engines and I think there is a solution to that.

“But I am not convinced that even if those two solutions are found that other people won’t take the opportunity of a unanimous vote for their own commercial objectives.”

FIA president Max Mosley is backing an engine fund, made up of contributions of £8m (€11.6m) from every manufacturer. The FIA would use that money to fund affordable engines from 2008-2010.