F1’s biggest problem revealed by Red Bull’s Adrian Newey
Adrian Newey of Red Bull believes that F1 heavyweights Ferrari and Mercedes are dominating the sport by having a major share of the game’s engine market.
Newey believes that his Red Bull team will struggle in the upcoming F1 season after failing to land engines from any of the major manufacturers like Honda, Mercedes or Ferrari and have to rely on the Renault engines. 2016 may be the year of Mclaren, who will have the full use of their engine partner Honda, stated Newey via motorsport.com.
“Now the chassis regulations are tight but the engine regulations are very free. That's why teams like Mercedes and Ferrari, who build engines, have the advantage.” Newey told Times of India.
2015 saw Red Bull being caught in an off the track saga which saw them in a position to change their engine manufacturers, Renault. However, after being rejected by both Mercedes and Ferrari, Red Bull were forced to reconcile with the French engine manufacturer and commit to a deal in 2016 which will also see Tag Heuer having the naming rights to the engine.
Newey has stated that F1 needs to look into bringing in more number of engine manufacturers competing in the championship. Increasing the number of manufacturers will result in better competition as well as reducing the added advantage that teams like Ferrari and Mercedes enjoy over others. However, the two heavyweights seem not so interested in the change.
“But the present heavyweights like Ferrari and Mercedes don’t want it. So it is a battle.” Newey added
Newey also stated that all the competing teams need to have the same physical engine along with petrol and the software to have a fair chance of competing for the championship, which otherwise will only be dominated by the traditional greats.
The legendary designer also questioned the governing body’s desire to allow private teams like Red Bull competing for the F1 title.
According to Newey, the F1 championship will be the healthiest when all the teams will have competitive engines and until then it will only be a two to three horse race.
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