Mosley: greener F1 to help reduce costs

With McLaren boss Ron Dennis openly questioning in Monaco whether the new rule ideas would be good for F1, as he expressed fears that the huge costs could drive the independent teams out of business, Mosley has insisted that the new rules will actually help teams spend their money more wisely.

In an interview with the official Formula One website, Mosley claims that teams are currently spending far more than they need to - even though the FIA has worked hard to bring down costs.

"We have observed that only two manufacturers have decreased their budget," said Mosley. "The others have retained theirs, even now with the engine freeze in place, and keep on developing in micro regions at a cost of millions, that will bring them at best three or four horsepower more. This is madness.

"Another example: one of the teams uses one-time wheel bolts that cost US$1,200 per piece. At a consumption rate of 1000 pieces per year that means 1.2 million dollars only for wheel bolts! The FIA has to correct that sort of insane interpretation of performance focus."

When asked how the FIA would stop such high levels of spending, Mosley said: "With a new programme in place in 2011 we will try to stream the creativity and complexity of Formula One technology in a more sound direction.

"We have been talking to the engineers and board members of the big manufacturers and suggested that if they are willing to put millions into the development of Formula One engines then why not with the philosophy to get more performance out of less, or limited, energy.

"The idea behind it is to directly connect the development in Formula One to road car production. The bigger the overlap, the bigger the economization - and the better for the protection of our climate."

Mosley has suggested that there will be strict fuel limits imposed for racing and testing from 2011, to encourage manufacturers to develop more efficient engines.

But he also made it clear that there will be no move to a single-chassis rule, as has been suggested in recent weeks.

"No, only a new chassis regulation," he said. "With this we will reduce the environmental impact and at the same time make the sport more attractive.

"Do you have any idea how much energy is wasted and CO2 pollutes the air when the top teams have their two wind tunnels run 24/7? Hundreds of thousands of tonnes and more - with the unfortunate result that at the end of the day Formula One races become boring."

He added: "The extremely sophisticated aerodynamics inhibits overtaking. With a new regulation we want to make overtaking possible again. This is only feasible if the cars are aerodynamically standardized in a way that the car behind can drive faster than the car leading.

"With this new regulation we want to bring back overtaking. Nothing else will work. The 'new' Formula One should be like this: the manufacturers deliver engines, gearboxes and electronic units that last five races - and the teams build the respective chassis."

Mosley said that the manufacturers have six months to come up with their own ideas before talks finalise the rules for 2011 at the end of this year.