Ecclestone wishes to abandon the V6 Turbo power units

Bernie Ecclestone is not a fan of the new power units and he hasn’t held back from saying so in recent months, but now the head of Formula One Management hopes to get the F1 Strategy Group to adopt a measure to return to the naturally aspirated V8 engines used until 2013.

Ecclestone thus confided to several journalists, including Christian Sylt for *Pitpass*, his desire to see F1 return to engines like the V8 used until the end of 2013: “We can pool all our money and bet that Mercedes will win the championship next year, which is not the kind of thing we are looking for. I have suggested and will suggest that we return to a normal naturally aspirated engine with some hybrid elements.”

« The constructors should call it a ‘McLaren hybrid,’ ‘Ferrari hybrid,’ or ‘Williams hybrid’ so that it gets the message across. These are [engines] hybrids now, but no one says it. It’s actually the best-kept secret. What is this engine made for? What was it designed for and what have we achieved? It’s a bit of the magic of engineering. »

The people who built these race engines and anyone currently building the engines we have now, I think it would be a bit of a dream for them to have a regular naturally aspirated engine and develop it up to 1000 horsepower, which I think is what we wish for.

Ecclestone suggested that it would not increase costs, unlike the current V6 Turbo, and that teams might be allowed to use the V8 engines that were present in F1 before 2014. He also revealed that the topic would be discussed at the next Strategy Group meeting on December 18, and that some teams are in favor of this solution: « We have six [votes] so if four teams want to do it, that makes ten [votes]. There are 18 votes so that’s the majority. »

Ecclestone, however, believes that the return of the V8s for 2016 is not on the agenda because it would mean admitting his mistake: « I don’t think we will go back. It’s admitting defeat to go back. »

The presence of South Korea on the calendar: a contractual obligation

South Korea does not want F1 to return to the Yeongam circuit according to Ecclestone, and the presence of the race is solely due to the contract signed, as Ecclestone stated in remarks reported by Reuters: « They [the organizers] would rather it not take place. We have a contract with South Korea… we had to put them on the calendar. If we hadn’t, they could have sued us. »

The presence of South Korea had surprised many observers because the race was not held in 2014, particularly because the organizers were looking to reduce hosting costs following financial issues related to the Koreans’ disinterest in the race.

A woman to succeed Ecclestone?

While the succession of Bernie Ecclestone, who celebrated his 84th birthday just over a month ago, is often discussed, the main person concerned does not yet seem ready to let go of his role as the head of F1. The names of Christian Horner and Donald McKenzie, co-founder of CVC which owns the majority of F1 shares, have been mentioned. However, Ecclestone believes that the contribution of a woman could be interesting for F1 – he is particularly thinking of Sacha Woodward-Hill, his trusted legal advisor.

« If I controlled the board, I would probably say that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a woman in charge, » Ecclestone said, quoted by The Times.