FIA Urged to Further Restrict V10

Although the FIA has vowed to ensure that teams running old V10 engines next season will not have an advantage, there are worries that plans to restrict power do not go far enough.

Currently only Minardi are planning to go down the V10 route. But with the early experiences of V8s sparking fears about dealing with vibration problems caused by the need to run them at more than 20,000rpm, Autosport-Atlas understands concerns are emerging that a manufacturer could be tempted to stay with a V10 if they cannot get on top of any major V8 problems during the winter.

This comes despite the manufacturers having signed a letter in July all committing themselves to running V8 engines next season.

The latest fears have prompted Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn and Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug to ask the FIA to make further restrictions on the V10s to ensure there is no temptation from a manufacturer to switch camps. The matter is believed to be up for discussion when the teams meet with FIA president Max Mosley on August 31st.

Brawn said: "You cannot make a V10 exactly the same as a V8. I think the proposal is a limit on rpm and an air restrictor, but it's very difficult to give it exactly the same power and torque curve as a V8.

"You can't keep the revs up (on a V10) because if you do, the thing will have 800 bhp. It's got to be a concession, and I think it's a concession that the FIA need to get out in the rules as fast as they can because there will always be that temptation for people to have a look at that route if it looks to be competitive."

Haug added: "There is a first proposal from the FIA (to limit V10s) but it needs to be refined because what is on the table right now clearly favours a V10.

"But people have a common view on that and all the engine manufacturers will find an agreement for next year. As it stands right now, Minardi are the only team that will have a V10.

"Having said that, we need the right equivalence formula that we achieve our goals and that there is not a better engine than the V8."

Although the V10/V8 issue is unlikely to play a major role in the fight at the front of the grid, he believes the matter will become vital to those teams further down the grid.

"I hope we are not the people who are worried by Minardi's performance but people like Jordan and the teams around there are the teams who should be looking at it very carefully because Minardi have an advantage from the engine," he added.

"So at that end of the grid it's going to get quite difficult. That engine rule was left in as an economic concession to the small teams, It should not be there as a means of a small team achieving amore competitive position."