Pre-Season Whitmarsh: 2014 engine equality vital

Together with the warnings from Ferrari about the need to manage the available fuel and energy resources, it sounds like we could have some very different racing next year. The folks who have complained about Pirelli causing drivers to cruise are going to hate the fuel management aspects!

Anyone who can remember the fuel limited turbo days is probably not looking forward to next year very much.
 
The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about 2014 is how the shakeup might make things more competitive at the front. After mulling that over for a while, the second thing that comes to mind is the realisation that the heart and soul of F1 is continuing to be squeezed out. The days of Bridgestone tyres, V12 engines and no Playstation gimmicks like DRS are a distant memory.

More on topic, Whitmarsh is right in what he says, in the current financial climate the manufacturers will leave the sport rather than continuing to chuck money at the problem. It's a bit of a shame though because I think the engine regulations, and those for 2014 in general, are already very restrictive.
 
I think he may be concerned that McLaren are going to be even crapper than they are this season. Either that or he knows their engine will be so good that they'll completely dominate. I'd personally keep schtum if that was the case.
 
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You would think that McLaren-Honda would want to storm into 2015 like world beaters. Instead they're already just angling for equality. And are we really at a stage where Manufacturers are more concerned about being embarrassed than showcasing their world class product? Because I believe engine manufacturers are enticed by the opportunity to put one over on their competition.
 
Evidently, KekeTheKing, Whitmarsh believes either:
  1. Mercedes are not going to produce a world class engine, or
  2. Mercedes are not going to produce a world class engine for a team who've buggered off to Honda for 2015, when they could instead produce a world class engine for their favourite team; themselves.
 
I do hope the new engines encourages manugacturers back to F1, and Honda returning in 2015 is early evidence of that. However, what I don't like about these new engines is the concerns about unreliability. Felipe Massa said today that Ferrari warned him about efficiency being more important in 2014 than outright performance. We could see a number of races being decided this way
 
If you were Renault you may want to stick two fingers at Ferrari and Mercedes because the original engine freeze meant they did not do any modifications development and they lost up to 40 bhp at least for the first few years by taking engine freeze as it was
 
As principal of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and president of FOTA, Whitmarsh had more input into the change in engine formula than most. It seems now he is reconsidering the wisdom of that decision.

That horse already has bolted the barn, there no point closing the door now.
 
F1 could not carry on under the present engine regs, manufactures have been leaving in their droves since this ridiculous engine freeze we've lost BMW, Honda, Cosworth and Toyota we are down to the final 3 it would have been disastrous if another one left the sport, something had to be done and if Whitmarsh had a hand in that something then he should be praised for it not belittled, the change has already tempted Honda back which was also in part down to Whitmarsh and hopefully others will follow suit...
 
If you were Renault you may want to stick two fingers at Ferrari and Mercedes because the original engine freeze meant they did not do any modifications development and they lost up to 40 bhp at least for the first few years by taking engine freeze as it was

Which perversely might've worked to their advantage judging by recent speculation on their possible developments!
 
F1 could not carry on under the present engine regs, manufactures have been leaving in their droves since this ridiculous engine freeze...
The manufacturers will never be pleased by such narrowly constrained regulations. The FIA need to stop mandating a spec engine and go back to the old system of establishing broad parameters and letting the engine builders build what they build best, something that better suits their own agenda.

The lack of variety is bad for the evolution of the species, and the regulated "sameness" is one of the factors that is killing the level of overtaking.
 
There should never be a rev limit, it should be up to the driver and team just how hard the engine should be pushed. If a driver wants to take the chance of his engine blowing up because he pushes for the lead then let him do so.
 
Yep I agree F1 should be about the pinnacle of motor sport, as long as it is safe then it should be allowed, I am getting pretty frustrated by this dumbed down version of the sport I love and the complete falseness of the whole thing....
 
F1 has never been the pinnacle of motor sport. That's one of the great myths of history. Endurance prototype racing as showcased at Le Mans is way out front. It has a longer history and the technical innovation has continued into the 21st Century. Meanwhile, F1 has dried up like up a technological 20th century prune, subservient to superstar syndrome prima donnas, presenteritis, presenters, computer geeks and aerodynamics CAD obsessed, Adrian Newey is God worshiping, lap dog loony cheer one boo the other superfans, whose justification in life is slagging off the subjects, supporters, colleagues and entourage of the blighters they don't like and somehow just cannot tolerate each other because of course they are always wrong, and woe betide you if you think that sad teams manager is okay because you'll probably get blasted to pieces by the ones who will tell you they've got their balls in the pool and it's about time the bugger lost his job, but don't give it me because I'm not worthy of sweeping the floor for such holy peep's and ...
 
There should never be a rev limit, it should be up to the driver and team just how hard the engine should be pushed. If a driver wants to take the chance of his engine blowing up because he pushes for the lead then let him do so.
Absolutely. >Revs = <Reliability Jump if you feel froggy.

F1 has never been the pinnacle of motor sport. That's one of the great myths of history....
Depends how you define it. F1 cars overall are extremely highly stressed machines, more than in any other motor sport I am aware of, always riding the razor's breadth between too light and two pieces. They generate higher lateral loads when cornering than anything this side of a go-kart. And about the same G-load under braking. When boost pressure was still unregulated, with qualy fuel mapping, the turbocharged BMW engines running on petrol (plus a dollop of snake oil) had a higher specific output (very nearly 1 bhp per CC!!!!) than the supercharged top fuel dragster of the day running on nitromethane. If they weren't artificially constrained, today's 2.4L V-8s all are capable of running 23,000 rpm. I know of no other petrol piston engine with poppet valves in any application capable of turning such high rpms, much less surviving a couple thousand kilometers.

I won't argue the technology in the sport is not in deplorable a state of decline, but it's not without its bright sport.
 
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