Engine cheat fears downplayed

With engines having to last for two races this year, several team figures have voiced mild concerns about a rule within the 2005 sporting regulations that allows any driver who fails to finish the first race of two races to start the second event with a fresh power-unit - and without any penalty.

It has been decided that handing 10-place grid penalties to drivers who fail to finish races will be too extreme - although any engine changes over the course of a race weekend will still result in a penalty.

FIA president Max Mosley has admitted that the loophole does exist, but believes in reality teams and drivers will not opt to go down that route - and that if they did they would be quickly found out.

"You see, the thing is that if somebody did it habitually we would know," he said. "And what good is it going to do them if they are running P9. Why were they running P9?

"Also the reality is that you would have to have it [the car and engine] all set-up to do that and the advantage you get isn't that big. In the end I don't think they will do it.

"We gave a lot of thought to blowing the engine up on the slowing down lap, but we don't think it will happen. If you did it more than once it would be very suspicious because statistically it doesn't happen and we would then have to ask the stewards to look at it."