Bernie Ecclestone calls for short-term V8 return to replace "bloody silly engines"

Formula 1

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Ecclestone calls for short-term V8 return to replace "bloody silly engines"

Former supremo says F1 is "entertainment"

GPFans Staff

Thursday 7 January 2021 12:14

Bernie Ecclestone has called for the return of normally-aspirated engines for the next few years while Formula 1 and the FIA decide on which route to take with regard to the future direction of the power unit.

F1 is planning to introduce a new system from 2026, potentially a year earlier should an agreement be reached among the three main manufacturers that will remain following Honda's exit at the end of this year in Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault.

Former F1 supremo Ecclestone's comments come in the wake of Fernando Alonso's run out in his 2005 title-winning V10 Renault across the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend at the end of last season that caused a buzz in the paddock.

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Ecclestone believes it perfectly highlighted that F1 is more about entertainment and that the fans in the grandstands or watching on television do not care about how road relevant a power unit may be.

It has led to the 90-year-old suggesting a return of the V8 engine that ran in F1 prior to the current 1.6-litre turbo-hybrid system that was introduced in 2014.

Appreciating he will be "in trouble" for his comments, in an interview with Motorsport Magazine, Ecclestone said: "Let’s dig out all the old normally-aspirated engines.

“Everybody’s got them, the costs go right down, the noise will be back, and we can use them for five years while we sort out an engine for the future.

“Formula 1 doesn’t have to be relevant to the car industry. People forget, Formula 1 is in the entertainment business and when you stop entertaining you haven’t got a business.

“There’s going to be a lot of changes [in the world]. Everyone will have electric cars, the politicians will see to that, you won’t be able to take a petrol car into a city.

"People will say, ‘Hang about, all these F1 cars charging around, why aren’t they electric?’ and the manufacturers are going to stop making petrol or diesel cars within a few years.

“Honda is going. Red Bull will take the engine but that will only work if the others agree to freeze, otherwise, they’ll just go on spending God knows what to stay ahead. Let’s get rid of these bloody silly engines they have now.

“The people in the grandstands aren’t interested in how super-efficient they are, how much fuel they use, how powerful they are. Max [Mosley] said the noise doesn’t matter but I think it does, always has done.”