Formula 1's director of motorsport Ross Brawn believes the sport's proposed 2021 engine will help to massively cut down on grid penalties which have spiralled out of control in recent seasons.
This year so far, with one race remaining, a total of 730 grid penalties (excluding gearbox penalties) have been handed out, and whilst just over half have been for one team – McLaren and its partner Honda – the more experienced Renault has still been hit with drops totalling 310 places.
Brawn therefore believes by introducing a much cheaper engine with less technologically advanced addons such as the MGU-K, MGU-H and Turbocharger, there will be no need for limitations on how many can be used per driver per season (currently four of each which is set to drop to three in 2018).
"What I think we should try to achieve with the new engine is componentry that is economic to change whenever you want," Brawn is quoted as saying by Autosport.
"If we go towards a different design of turbocharger, a homologated turbo, and it costs $2-3,000, why would you bother to even worry about limiting the number you use?
"But when your turbocharger is as expensive and complicated as it is now, then that's why we have the limitations."
Brawn dismissed arguments that F1 must be at the cutting edge of technology if it's to attract manufacturers, claiming such a strategy hasn't worked for the World Endurance Championship's LMP1 class, which has seen both Audi and Porsche quit, leaving Toyota as the sole manufacturer.
"Sportscar racing has its fan following but even in the environment where the fans were not the biggest thing, it faltered and it failed.
"In this environment, where the fans should be the biggest thing, we can't afford to have that sort of failure where we get so extreme we lose contact with the fans, because only a very few people can afford the technology and excel in the technology."
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