Former Formula 1 driver and three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Allan McNish, has thrown his support behind plans to boost F1’s power limit.
Speaking at Autosport International, the Scottish driver voiced concern that the modern cars are too easy to drive and upping the 800bhp limit to 1000bhp would go some way to fixing that.
“Talking about the 1000bhp [proposal], I do think the modern F1 car has got too wide a working window,” he said.
“The reason I say that is that if you took the Silverstone test last year, there were three or four rookies that just came out of a lower category, jumped straight in and were all fast.
“You can always get one special one like Kimi Raikkonen coming out of Formula Renault, or I do believe Max Verstappen coming out of F3, but I don’t believe you can get three or four just like that.
“Therefore, I think they should be that little bit edgier to drive.”
Modifying the engine output might not be enough though. McNish is urging the rulemakers to make the cars more physical to drive, like they were in the ’80s.
“1000bhp is something they are talking about for 2017, but [they need to be a] little bit more tricky; something that requires the driver to work physically as well,” he added.
“You used to really have to work it – remember Nigel Mansell and that period where you really had to manhandle the car – and that’s not really the case any longer.”
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