From 2017, Formula 1’s power unit token system will be scrapped, meaning engine manufacturers will be able to update their engines without restraint during the season.
The scrapping of the token system will see the four manufacturers, Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Honda, facing no limits on development. When the manufacturers agreed to cut their prices to customers for the 2017 season, this change was one of the key concessions.
For the 2016 season, manufacturers will still have 32 tokens but this was due to drop to 25 in 2017, 20 in 2018 and then from 2019 to the end of the current formula 15. On the basis that manufacturers would have to develop an engine to new rules, only three per year will be allowed in the last two years of the formula.
“The token system is being removed,” said Renault’s Cyril Abiteboul. “One of the reasons we have all agreed to do this is that we all need the performance of the engine to converge.
“An F1 that is dictated by the performance of the engine is not good for anyone. You see it is not good for Mercedes, it is not good for Renault, Ferrari – we all have interest to change that.
“We have decided, also for the public, to stop the public being confused between the penalty system, the token system – we have decided to simply remove the token system.”
