[Jody Barton]

Sooooo...

These are the rules and regs regarding engine supply, and number of each component allowed per car:

23.3a) Unless he drives for more than one team (see 23.3© below), and subject to the additions described below, each driver may use no more than engines (ICE), motor generator units-heat (MGU-H), 3 turbochargers (TC), 2 energy stores (ES), 2 control electronics (CE) and 2 motor generator units-kinetic (MGU-K) during a Championship season. With the consent of (and at the sole discretion of) the FIA, the numbers above will be increased by one for any driver using a power unit provided by a new power unit manufacturer (as defined in Appendix 9) taking part in their first Championship season.


Sooooo... yeah, good luck Honda and Renault I guess. I think we can all see the problems this will lead to, anyone who saw Lewis running the prototype 2018 engine will have seen the terrifying level everyone else has to aim for. The be clear, from the revs, that engine was NOT turned up. If that was the much vaunted 50% plus efficient engine then God have mercy on everyone elses souls, because no one is touching that thing unless they can seriously crank their units up and not fear burning them out. Sure Merc will crank theirs up too, but it would limit their advantage. I think with 3 units they're be cruising round comfortably, no problems carrying way more speed, while others burn through their units.

So, 3 unit limit is dumb, I think the entire paddock agrees on that. Next year the engine costs have been reduced significantly to customer teams, as Horner pointed out, the Renault units will cost nearly 40% less than they did when first introduced, so is further cost cutting needed? I don't think so, and I'd like to see the number of units rise to 5, and let the teams and drivers go racing a bit more. Thoughts?

[morini]

Will spoil the racing if they keep the same stupid penalties. But it will favour Merc PU teams for sure.

[Antilochos]

Sooooo...

These are the rules and regs regarding engine supply, and number of each component allowed per car:

23.3a) Unless he drives for more than one team (see 23.3© below), and subject to the additions described below, each driver may use no more than engines (ICE), motor generator units-heat (MGU-H), 3 turbochargers (TC), 2 energy stores (ES), 2 control electronics (CE) and 2 motor generator units-kinetic (MGU-K) during a Championship season. With the consent of (and at the sole discretion of) the FIA, the numbers above will be increased by one for any driver using a power unit provided by a new power unit manufacturer (as defined in Appendix 9) taking part in their first Championship season.


Sooooo... yeah, good luck Honda and Renault I guess. I think we can all see the problems this will lead to, anyone who saw Lewis running the prototype 2018 engine will have seen the terrifying level everyone else has to aim for. The be clear, from the revs, that engine was NOT turned up. If that was the much vaunted 50% plus efficient engine then God have mercy on everyone elses souls, because no one is touching that thing unless they can seriously crank their units up and not fear burning them out. Sure Merc will crank theirs up too, but it would limit their advantage. I think with 3 units they're be cruising round comfortably, no problems carrying way more speed, while others burn through their units.

So, 3 unit limit is dumb, I think the entire paddock agrees on that. Next year the engine costs have been reduced significantly to customer teams, as Horner pointed out, the Renault units will cost nearly 40% less than they did when first introduced, so is further cost cutting needed? I don't think so, and I'd like to see the number of units rise to 5, and let the teams and drivers go racing a bit more. Thoughts?

Agree. Not much to add to that.

[The Professor]

The FIA cuts off its nose to spite its face again. 3 engines is a big ask for 20 odd races, this decision could potentially ruin next season as a spectacle.

[Jody Barton]

Mr Professor, firstly, nice to see a fellow Prost fan, and secondly, I agree. Look how rock solid Mercedes PU reliability has been this year. There’s no comparison on the reliability stakes. No other manufacturer comes close. So remove one more engine from the pool and you essentially hand a bigger advantage to the Merc cars yet again. The irony being this was pushed for by Renault and Ferrari to try and limit Mercedes ability to run higher engine modes... whoops... and we’re even seeing Lewis testing next seasons engine at the last two races... and in Brazil it looked ominous, if it looks as ominous in Abu Dhabi I think we’ll see another Merc double, with probably Lewis winning a fifth WDC.