Ecclestone fires warning shot to teams

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has fired a warning shot at the Formula One engine manufacturers.

An engine agreement between the manufacturers has been agreed, meaning that the current engine regulations of V6 Turbo-Hybrid power-units are set to stay in Formula One for the foreseeable future.

Ecclestone told Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle ahead of the Russian Grand Prix that he was delighted with this outcome, failing to hide his sarcasm.

Ecclestone has made it clear that he much preferred the older style V8 aspirated engines, due to the noise, but the manufacturers see the old technology as almost obsolete and instead get excited about the developments seen in hybrid technology.

Bernie on the outside at least maintains that he doesn’t care if these power-units remain, just as long as the gap between Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Honda decreases.

‘I didn’t mind which way it went. It doesn’t make any difference to us. The only thing we want is for the engines to be equal.’ he told motorsport.com.

‘Let’s wait and see…if not then that will all be torn up and we will start again with a new set of regulations where the engines might be easier.

‘The normally aspirated engines we had were more or less equal. They had all reached the maximum. It is just a question of bolting on some hybrid stuff that works and that is where the problem will start.’

It’s believed that Ecclestone ideally would like to see no more than 0.3 seconds gap between the engines around the Barcelona track.