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Briatore fed up with engine debate

Renault boss Flavio Briatore has urged his rival teams to stop wasting time arguing about engine rules, and instead try to work on ways of making Formula One more exciting

Following a series of lengthy meetings at Indianapolis this weekend to try to find a compromise deal on plans for an engine freeze in the sport, Briatore has spoken out about the ongoing dispute.

And he is not impressed that so much effort is being put into debating engine rules that do not interest a majority of the fans, when factors that would make the racing better are being ignored.

"There is a lot of emotion," he told autosport.com ahead of more meetings to discuss engine rules on Sunday. "What we should be doing is trying to improve the show. This is what we should be spending our time on.

"We need to make sure there is overtaking during the race and not overtaking in the pitlane. This is the problem we have.

"We are not racing. We spend so much money to build the most beautiful and expensive cars in the world to have these boring races. There is something wrong here."

The ongoing discussions between the engine manufacturers are on how best to approach engine homologation.

Some teams, including Renault and Ferrari, are keen for a lengthy freeze on development, while other teams, such as Toyota and Honda, want to continue aggressive development programmes to showcase their technology.

Briatore claims he is baffled by the stance of the Japanese car makers - and thinks they have forgotten that F1 should be about racing and not showing off technical capabilities.

"Everyone is always talking about technology, and I don't understand why Renault F1 needs to be the ultimate technology of Renault, with 10,000 engineers sitting at Renault. Our job is racing.

"I think some of my colleagues miss the core business - the core business is racing. It is not to develop the future of the Renault group.

"And every time the people pull my ear about technology, I don't understand, because we are winning. The people talking about technology - what do they want? We don't understand.

"Why don't we try to put on a better race, and improve entertainment to try and make sure people enjoy watching the race rather than talking about the double clutch? No one is interested in that."

Briatore believes that it is time the direction of the sport was dictated by team bosses who were interested in making the spectacle better rather than engineers who want to show off their abilities.

He thinks the spectacle of cars running close together and passing each other during the fuel burning off part of Q3 in qualifying at Indianapolis, which delighted the crowd, proved that overtaking was the key element missing from modern F1.

"What we need to be doing is fighting for the aerodynamics of the car to make sure that we have the space on the sidepod for the sponsor and make sure it is not the engineering that is dictating the lines of the car.

"We need to make sure that the power of the business is from the managers and not from the engineering - that is what we should be doing. Sometimes you can have smart aerodynamics and you do not have any space to get a sponsor.

"I really don't understand what we try to do. I try to make sure that we have a good race and we overtake on the track and not in the pitlane. This is what we need to do. More entertainment.

"The best part of the season was when we started Q3 in qualifying. It was fantastic. This was the best piece all season."

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