It seems that Ferrari have managed to add a vote on the relaxation of the engine freeze for this weekend’s team meeting in Sochi at Russia’s inaugural grand prix. No secret that Mercedes has been sweeping the floor like a cat in a shark costume on a Roomba this year and Ferrari a keen to get a chance during the season to upgrade their engine.
The thought is that companies, such as the Italian squad, are in the business of making engines and as AUTOSPORT reported, team boss Marco Mattiacci says that waiting an entire year to deploy innovative new engine improvements makes little sense. Marco told AUTOSPORT, when asked by AUTOSPORT, and reported by AUTOSPORT:
“F1 also stands for innovation and continuous improvement.
“So with all the dollars that I invest in innovation – it makes no sense that for one year I cannot touch the engine.
“It [lifting the freeze] is an idea that is a win for the media, a win for teams and a win for all the stakeholders.”
Does F1 stand for innovation? Is that the prime mover for lifting the engine freeze? Some, Mercedes, seem to think this will only escalate costs in Formula 1 which has become the elephant in the room but Ferrari reckon it won’t and feel that it will not only help them but their customers as well.
“Looking at it from the small teams’ perspective, if I have the possibility to deliver a more performing engine to them, then they have the opportunity to score more points and gain revenue.”
They also admit that opening the freeze on engines will allow their fiercest rivals to also improve and that’s a bit like getting finally getting your exhibition fight with Ivan Drago and that didn’t work to well for Apollo Creed did it?
Question is, would opening the engine freeze lead to rampant cost increases? If it did lead to cost increases, would that be born by the manufactures or would the customers be asked to pay for the advancement to their existing power units? If Marussia has to pay more for a highly improved engine from Ferrari, that’s a bit of a deal breaker no?
On the other hand, if Marussia are paying for an engine that comes with free firmware and hardware upgrades, then maybe the big teams—where all the money lives—can afford a little escalation in the engine development. The notion of giving a better product to Marussia so they can score points and get more TV revenue money might be a bit far-fetched if I’m honest.
Hat tip: AUTOSPORT of course.
