Team survival more important than 1000hp - engineer

Jan.30 (GMM) A former F1 engineer thinks the sport has bigger problems than a potential move to 1000-plus horse power engines.

According to Italian specialist publication Autosprint, the sport's powerbrokers will meet next week to discuss again the possibility of adapting the current turbo V6s to produce more sound and power by 2017.

The idea is gaining widespread assent up and down the pitlane.

"I think we do need to evolve, to improve," Red Bull boss Christian Horner is quoted as saying.

"We need to make the cars more spectacular and difficult to drive so that the talent of the drivers can be seen."

But Ossi Oikarinen, a Finnish engineer who worked with several F1 teams including Toyota, BMW and Ferrari until 2009, thinks the sport should concentrate first on its most pressing problem.

Backmarkers Marussia and Caterham have collapsed, while midfielders Force India, Sauber and Lotus are reportedly also all in financial strife.

"Curbing rising costs is not easy," Oikarinen told the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti, "but if they are not, then independent teams like Sauber will not survive.

"I think that's the problem that should be solved first, before thinking about how to increase engine power," he added.

Today, Oikarinen works in the premier German touring car series DTM, which he says is "a very entertaining series, but compared to formula one has relatively modest costs".