Horner: Nothing will change with F1’s engine

Christian Horner fears Formula 1 will fail to meet its objectives of reducing the costs of F1 engines while also closing the gap in 2018.

The introduction of the 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 engine in 2014 saw the price of the power units almost double.

This has hit the smaller customer teams hard, leading to calls for a reduction in the price.

Added to that, the same period has seen the rise of Mercedes, who have by far the best engine.

Rivals are keen to close the gap and in recent months that, as well as the price and the sound, have been up for discussion at the F1 Strategy Group.

Horner, however, says they are still far from a solution leading to concerns that "nothing" will change in 2018.

"I think it’s a complex situation, but fundamentally there were four criteria that were requested by the governing body to be met to ensure stability moving forward," the Red Bull team boss explained.

"Those four criteria were: a significant reduction in cost to €12 million, the availability of supply or the guarantee of supply, power convergence to within a relatively small bandwidth and to address the noise.

"As we sit here now we are not anywhere near having met any of those criteria and I think unfortunately what will happen, as is often the case with these things, time will run out at the end of the month and nothing will be achieved and nothing will change.

"There is one more attempt in the Strategy meeting and the Commission meeting at the end of the month to discuss and table the concerns and where we're at, but failing that regulations will inevitably stay as they are."