Bernie Ecclestone has admitted he and FIA president Jean Todt are at ‘loggerheads’ over the new Formula One engine regulations for the 2013 season.
The governing body announced a move to ‘green’ four-cylinder turbo charged engines from 2013 onwards, to the dismay of many fans, fearing the unique F1 noise would be lost.
Ecclestone seems to have taken note of their concern and is willing to fight against the introduction of the new regulations.
“I think there are two things that are really important for Formula One. One is Ferrari and second is the noise,” Ecclestone told AAP
“People love and get excited about the noise. People who have never been to a Formula One race, when they leave you ask them what [they remember] and they say ‘the noise’.”
The 80-year-old dismissed the move as a purely PR one, which, he believes, would be very costly to the sports audience.
“I’m anti, anti, anti, anti moving into this small turbo four formula,” he said. “We don’t need it and if it’s so important it’s the sort of thing that should be in saloon car racing.
“The rest of it is basically PR – it’s nothing in the world to do with Formula One. These changes are going to be terribly costly to the sport. I’m sure the promoters will lose a big audience and I’m quite sure we’ll lose TV.
“He’s [Todt] not a promoter and he’s not selling Formula One to be honest. Jean and I are a little bit at loggerheads over this engine. I don’t see the reason for it. We had the KERS and this was supposed to solve the problem that Formula One is not green and now we’ve got something else.”
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