Liberty facing 2021 engine delay

Liberty Media's flagship power unit regulation change may not be introduced into Formula 1 in 2021 as planned, motorsport director Ross Brawn has admitted. Aston Martin have already rowed back on interest in entering F1 over fears that the engine change will not be suitable.

F1's owners outlined plans for "cheaper" and "simpler" power units to be made for 2021 and beyond, although all engine manufacturers have expressed concerns.

Developing two power units simultaneously will mean spiralling costs, while simplifying the engines is seen as an attempt to dumb down the sport by some.

And Brawn suggests that the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari could well get their way and force a delay in the regulation change.

"We want to try and create a set of technical regulations on the engine, which are appealing to new manufacturers coming in as well as consolidate our existing engine suppliers," Brawn said in the Belgian Grand Prix race programme.

"And I think we just need to think of our timing on that, whether 2021 is the right time to do that, or whether it's better to keep that powder dry until we can be certain that major regulation change will bring fresh blood into the sport.

"My feeling is that there's still quite a lot we can do on the engine side in terms of sporting regulations such as limits on dyno test time, number of upgrades during a season, consistency of specification to all customer teams etc.

"On the engine, we need to decide if now is the time to have a revolution or an evolution."

One Liberty proposal that looks set to be pushed through is the budget cap.

Liberty have planned to enforce a $150million limit on team spending from 2021 and Brawn says that the measure is set to be gradually introduced over the next two seasons.

"The good news is that with the FIA and in consultation with the teams we are progressing well on the economic initiatives," added Brawn.

"Work on the mechanism of a cost cap is going well. At the moment we are looking to introduce it in a soft form, with dry runs in 2019, and 2020 and then it will be become regulatory in '21.

"I would say that barring some last-minute discussions that's pretty much finalised now."