Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has downplayed the significance of the negative reaction from manufacturers to the proposals put forward for changes to the engine formula from 2021.
Renault, Mercedes and Ferrari all aired concerns over the ideas, which called for an increase in revs, no MGU-H in favour of a more powerful MGU-K and greater conformity across the different designs.
The Italian team went even further threatening to quit Formula 1 if the vision put forward by owners Liberty Media didn’t meet with that of the bosses at Maranello, but Horner doubts there is much gumption behind that threat and the other comments, given how closely manufacturers have been involved in the process.
“There’s been consultation with all the manufacturers,” he told Autosport in Brazil. “I don’t think there was anything that was presented that was a surprise, I’d heard it all before, either in individual consultation or through what had been discussed in the media.
“What seemed to upset a couple of manufacturers was the press release that came out following the meeting – I think they were upset that it was presented as a fait accompli (a set proposal with no room for compromise).
“Inevitably there’ll be some filibustering and I think it’s obvious that the commercial side of the proposition is being linked to the technical,” Horner added, suggest power games were at play. “So there’s a lot of leveraging that inevitably is going on.
“You can see that happening. With Ferrari and Mercedes, sometimes it’s hard to recognise which one is which, or who’s running which team, but they are particularly aligned.”
The Red Bull boss has offered his support, along with several manufacturers considering an entry in 2021 to the idea put forward and he backs Liberty to stand their ground in the inevitable fight that is looming between F1 bosses and the main power players of the last 20 years or so.
“F1 has a habit of conducting its business through the media, it’s all part of the theatre and show that is F1, and part of the intrigue,” the Briton suggested
“I’ve been quite impressed with the way they (Liberty) have handled things so far, that they’re not rolling over, there are no clandestine discussions and meetings going. What their goals and objectives are is very, very clear.”
Finally, Horner talked up the changes believing though they don’t necessarily meet the desire of everyone, the compromise is one that addresses several issues with the sport today.
“I actually felt what was presented was actually a pretty sensible set of proposals and ideology of moving forward,” he said. “Under Ross [Brawn], whose approach has always been to do the analysis and research prior to setting off on a journey, for the first time that I can remember I feel that they’ve done that.
“They’ve recruited some good specialists that have done the analysis, from what I saw everything that was presented had a clear and sensible logic behind it.
“I think ultimately the consumer, ie the fan, will end up with a better product – a better sound, more marginal performance differential, a sporting element with the overtake button. I didn’t see anything that didn’t address the fundamental issues that we are currently experiencing.”
