Carmakers Making Progress, Says Haug

Formula One's engines manufacturers have taken a major step towards reaching an agreement over cost cutting measures, Mercedes chief Norbert Haug said on Saturday.

The seven engine manufacturers - Ferrari, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Renault, Toyota, and BMW - met on Friday night at Hockenheim for further talks after Haug had earlier said that plans to reduce costs by 50 percent had failed and he said they had now "made a step in the right direction".

Formula One's governing body, the FIA, have laid out plans for smaller, longer-life engines but the manufacturers have so far failed to create a detailed proposal for any possible changes.

"I think we made a step in the right direction last night. I cannot go into details on proposals but it was a very constructive meeting," Haug said.

FIA president Max Mosley said ahead of the French Grand Prix at the start of July that unless the manufacturers offered a proposal he would implement his own set of suggestions.

These include the requirement for engines to last for two races in 2005, rather than the current single race, and include a switch from a 3-litre V10 configuration to a 2.4-litre V8 in 2006.

"I have my own opinion on whether we should change things," Haug added. "My view is that you do not need an eight cylinder necessarily but if it is positive to Formula One we can go to it, press forward, save money and improve the spectacle.

"We need to save money and do better things with the money we have. The money we spend on engines should be cut by 50 percent. If we spent that we would be in a position to give a little bit of money to the team and we could help the smaller teams, do better promotion that kind of stuff.

"We are inclined to think about the future of Formula One, we are here for the long-term and a company like DaimlerChrysler, and especially Mercedes-Benz, takes care and that is probably why sometimes we are controversial. But we are always constructive on the future of the sport."