F1 to tender for cost-effective engines

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has said the world motorsports governing body, FIA will announce a tender soon for an independent and cheap F1 engine for 2017.

The move can kill turbo-hybrid engines which were introduced last year as only Mercedes and Ferrari have competitive engines and the other racing teams are losing out.

Plus an engine supply costs teams around 15 million pounds to 20 million pounds per season with the latest generation 1.6-litre turbocharged V6s compared to seven million pounds during the V8 era, and therefore it is proving to be quite difficult for customer teams to afford, reported Eurosport.co.uk on Saturday.

"The FIA will put out a press release on Monday or Tuesday. (The engines) will probably have more power, probably use more fuel. It means I suppose there will be some regulation changes, which has already been anticipated for 2017 anyway, so there is nothing new," Ecclestone said.

With regards the claim that the move is a bid to force other manufacturers to reduce the current supply cost, Ecclestone said: "Not really, its very simple. If we don't, we'll probably lose a few teams. It's nothing to do with us what people charge. We have no control, and don't want it. "They can charge what they like. What is being introduced will be an awful lot cheaper than what it currently costs."

Ecclestone also said that "there's a couple (of interested parties) on the horizon", adding that Cosworth is one of them.

The F1 boss is also confident that the new engines will be competitive and believes the introduction of the units would not see F1 become a two-tier championship. "We used to have people running turbo engines and people running normally-aspirated," he said.

"That wasn't a two-tier system. It was a choice. Whatever it is, I anticipate they will continue running their engine and the others the other engine."