Until now, the discussion about engines has been primarily with the major manufacturers who are best placed to decide how technology in F1 can be aligned with research on future road engines. However, the chassis discussions will be with the teams.

Mosley pointed out that any decision should be based on the objectives agreed upon at the Formula One Commission meeting on 18 September 2006.

He said: “We agreed that the objectives of any future revision of the rules should be road relevance; improving the show; better cost effectiveness; and enhanced safety; as well as facilitating brand recognition. We must therefore constantly measure each proposal against these criteria.”

For engines, the basic principle, agreed in consultation with the F1 manufacturers and technical consultants Ricardo, is to restrict the output by energy rather than capacity. 

The competitive advantage will come not from running the engine faster but from extracting more work from a smaller fuel or energy source.  In this way, the technology would be road-relevant and Formula One could make a significant contribution to reducing CO2.

Costs would also be significantly reduced because the research would be shared with road car research.  In return, the resulting drive trains would be made available to independent teams for the marginal cost of production.

For chassis, Mosley pointed out that even the slightest freedom in the regulations would dramatically increase costs.

As he put it: “It is clear that if any freedom is allowed, no matter how small, Formula One is now so technically competitive that a search for advantage will result, even if this involves great expense and technical sophistication. It follows that if we want to achieve real cost savings on the chassis, one answer is an absolutely standard chassis.” 

Identical chassis could also improve overtaking. For instance, it would make it easier to design a car to be faster as a result of following another car.

Mosley said: “We don’t just need cars which are easier to overtake, we need the overtaken car to gain an advantage from being behind.  This would mean that with cars that are reasonably well matched, the one behind could re-take the car in front.  The result would be the return of wheel-to-wheel racing and an improvement to the show.”

He added: “A standard chassis would thus reduce costs, improve the show, allow an even safer construction and concentrate the search for competitiveness into new road-relevant engines.  It would fulfil the 18 September objectives admirably and also go a long way towards solving the financial problems of the smaller independent teams.”

None of this is meant as a definitive statement of the FIA’s position but rather is intended to invite comment from the F1 teams and manufacturers. However, it is thought that detailed regulations for both the engine and chassis regulations in 2011 would need to be in place before the end of 2007.

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