Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag has said that he will stand against any changes to the roadmap for the series, and that costs will be kept low.
His comments come after some teams expressed fears that Formula E could turn into a spending contest in light of several large manufacturers entering the sport in the coming years.
DS Virgin Racing boss Alex Tai also revealed that one manufacturer had asked at this year’s Berlin ePrix if they could have control over every aspect of the car.
This according to Tai was an attempt to ensure that they could outspend every other team in what he described as a ‘Manchester United’ approach.
Tai told Motorsport.com, “Last year in Berlin we had a meeting and one of the OEMs in it said, ‘we want to come in and be able to do everything.
“They had this Manchester United approach of out-spending everyone else and dominating, and we all said: ‘Absolutely no way’.
“We need to keep this Utopian level of allowing any manufacturer to come in to this, because every manufacturer is going to be driving forward these types of powertrains in the future.”
Agag however gave assurances that this type of spending would not be allowed to occur, and that he was committed to ensuring that the series could accommodate everyone.
“We designed Formula E for this and we when we went to the drawing board on day zero we designed a championship for what is happening today,” Agag told Motorsport.com.
“Our structures and our rules are such that they will accommodate and everyone can be comfortable within those rules so we can avoid an ‘arms race’. We will not accept any change of that framework by anyone.”
In fact Agag said that some manufacturers had urged him not to allow costs to rise, and that they were in favour of the rule stating that they had to supply privateer teams.
“You either accept the rules or you don’t come here. Manufacturers themselves are telling us don’t change anything because we like it as the way it is: don’t allow the costs to go high, don’t change the fact we have to provide a powertrain at a set price to a privateer team.
“I’m not worried at all that the manufacturers are coming, I am encouraged and I am happy that they are a great addition to the championship.”
