F1 set for another key meeting over future

Feb.22 (GMM) Another important meeting will take place regarding F1's future this week.

While the main eyes are on the track action in Barcelona, the sport's top figures will soon head to Geneva where the car and engine rules for 2017 and beyond will be discussed once again.

Earlier, Bernie Ecclestone and Jean Todt seemed hand-in-hand in their pursuit of sweeping changes, but now the proposed 'client engine' has been dropped as the engine manufacturers made some concessions.

But Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Auto Motor und Sport: "The FIA should have kept the client engine as leverage."

F1 supremo Ecclestone has described the behaviour of the manufacturers as a "cartel", and Horner agrees: "They want to work out between them who gets what engine.

"Then each team has to commit for three years without knowing exactly what specification he's getting."

Red Bull designer Rob Marshall agrees that the engine suppliers are too powerful.

"I'm hearing talk of customers - not us - who receive the same engines as the factory team, which may be the case when it comes to hardware," he told Speed Week.

"But the difference is not about the tangible material, it's about the electronics, the software. Press a few buttons and you've got completely different performance," he added.

As for the earlier plans for much faster cars for 2017, even that is now up in the air as the discussions continue to result in likely compromise.

"It is completely unclear what will happen" at the meeting, said Horner, "but it should be an exciting day."

Red Bull designer Adrian Newey told Speed Week: "I hope there will be some agreement.

"The greatest danger, in my view, is that the teams will decide out of selfishness rather than the big picture. For the good of the sport, we now need a strong federation," he added.