Haas F1 Team Boss Guenther Steiner says he is all for the new direction proposed for power unit regulations in 2021.
The proposal, set out by Formula 1 and the FIA, include a higher-revving engine (3,000 rpm higher), removal of the MGU-H, a more powerful MGU-K with manual driver deployment, and a single turbo with dimensional constraints and weight limits.
Steiner says what has been suggested is a decent starting point, but now they need to work on the finer details, which will hopefully aid them in achieving the goals they have set out for 2021.
“They’ve tried to achieve the things they set out with more noise, more equality and lower costs. That is the aim of it.
“I think they’ve thrown out a good concept to start off with. Now the details can be worked out by the technical people.
“The concept is out there and I don’t think the concept will be changed. But now they need to work on the detail of the concept to achieve the goals they’ve set themselves with more noise, more equality and lower costs for the customer teams. Hopefully, they can achieve it.”
The reason for the upping of the rev limit is to make the engines sound louder, a sore subject for many fans, but Steiner believes it is only because we do not currently have the noise, that it has become such an important point for people.
“The noise – if you don’t have it, you think it’s not important because it’s just noise. If you hear a V10 or a V12 going by, when you see these historic cars, it sounds beautiful.
“I think a lot of people like the noise. I don’t think we’ll get to that noise of a V10 or a V12, because you have a turbo on it. You can improve, and the aim is with making the rev limit 3,000 rpm higher than the current engine, it can be achieved to be noisier.
“I think it will never be like it was. A little bit noisier is good because I think it’s great for the fans to hear a car coming from far away.”
One area that does have huge significance however is cost, and the Italian believes the financial aspect needs to be seriously considered, in order to improve Formula 1 and make it more appealing to potential new manufactures and teams.
“I wouldn’t say it’s the most important. It’s as important as the other ones because even if it’s cheap, if people don’t like the engine, why would we do it?
“There needs to be a compromise between what the fans like, which is noise, and new manufacturers coming in, which is what people want.
“The cost element is also important for new people, for current people, and for the teams which don’t make their own engines, like us. It’s part of what we need to do to change Formula One to be better.”
Although the new regulations are not set to change until 2021, once they are agreed, Steiner believes manufactures will get to work on development immediately, to ensure that they do not fall behind their rivals at any stage.
“I think it will take a year to finalize the regulations. I think that’s the aim, to have the final version of the technical regulations by the end of 2018.
“Then it’s a two-year development process. I think already the manufacturers will start now to develop, because you cannot be behind.”
