Todt acknowledges fan desire for louder engines

FIA president Jean Todt has admitted that he does not have a personal need to hear louder engines on the Formula One circuit, but has acknowledged the desire of fans to see the sport go back to the days of roaring vehicles speeding round the track.

Certain technological, mechanical, and regulation developments over the past few years have seen the sound level of F1 engines significantly decrease, and there has been big public support to bring the noise back.

Todt claimed he isn't bothered about the sounds, but will look into making the engines noisier if it is what the fans want.

“If you ask me, I don’t need the noise,” Todt told reporters.

“I’m quite happy with that. I don’t think we don’t need noise, but I’m quite happy with the noise we have now.”

“The only problem is that it seems there are a lot of complaints about the noise. I’m sure, if you are here with 20, 25 people, we will have different opinions about the noise. So, if we can please people by giving more noise, I’m not against that at all, so we simply need to see how to give more noise.”

Further changes are expected to be made to engine regulations in preparation for the 2021 season, but Todt does not expect any drastic alterations to the current model.

“We are talking, it has started already months ago, with actual engine manufacturers, with potential engine suppliers, with the commercial rights holder, what should be a good engine.”

“If you ask me what I feel about the actual engine, it has been one interesting exercise. I think it’s too complicated, I think it’s too expensive, but it’s probably a very good first step to go to a next generation of engine, which will be… an evolution of what we have now.”

“I am against starting on a completely new development of engine, but I think we should take the upmost from what we have understood from this engine and allow the actual manufacturers who have been investing heavily to be able to enjoy what they have been investing for the next generation of engine, and also encouraging newcomers to come.”