Atlas F1 Magazine: The One Engine Rule: Jo's View

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The One Engine Rule: Jo's View

By Jo Ramirez, England
Atlas F1 Special Columnist

Since the FIA announced the introduction of the new one engine rule for 2004, the radical decision has been the topic of most conversations in the paddock. With 40 years of Formula One experience, former McLaren team co-ordinator and Atlas F1's columnist Jo Ramirez gives his thoughts on the changes

Apparently for the last few weeks, the topic of conversation in the paddock is the new measures being introduced by the FIA in an effort to cut the costs of running a Formula One establishment. Will it help the sport? Will it bring the grid closer? Will it really save money? Will it bring in new constructors to the exclusive members-only Club?

We seem to have gone down this road before, and so far any new measures taken have never achieved any of the above. Nonetheless, here is yet another big change that undoubtedly will steer the direction of Formula One, which by definition is and should remain the pinnacle of the sport. I have always been in favour of having more open rules in F1 - regarding weight, size of engine, size of the bodywork, size of the tyres - and allowing the designers to go wild with their imagination, leaving the managers to pull out their hair and get ulcers while they try to find the budget to make it possible!

I believe in the saying: "if you don't like the heat, get out of the kitchen," but don't think it's because I worked in McLaren; I have also been with small teams trying to make ends meet. However, can you imagine a full blown turbo-charged engine with no wastegate restrictions on a full blown, skirted wing ground-effects car with electronic suspension? It would just be impossible for any driver to withstand the G-forces that this beast would create, so the answer is yes, we do need to control the sport, and it is a very tough job. If you leave it to the constructors themselves it would never happen, as rarely do they unanimously agree on any issues. But someone has to do it, and that is where the FIA comes in.

I believe this time the FIA took the initiative to try to cut down on the escalating costs of Formula One, by adopting the following measures (without going through the whole FIA press release, but just the relevant basic points):

One engine per car to be used throughout the weekend from the beginning of 2004, and the driver who changes his engine will lose 10 grid places each time.

The Formula One chassis regulations will remain unchanged for the next two years.

As of Brazil this year, the Stewards of the meeting will have more powers to move a driver involved in an incident ten places back from his qualifying position on the grid at the next race.

However, in any business in life where rules apply, inevitably they end up helping some people and hurting others: in the average Formula One partnership, the engine builder or automaker provides the engine, while the team provide the chassis and the running of the outfit. By cutting down on the engine costs, the expenses of the team would not be alleviated. Having said this, I am sure that different arrangements will have to be put in place between teams and car manufacturers (engine builders). On the other hand, it will be easier for the independent teams to afford an engine contract, which is the biggest expense on a Formula One team.

This rule, however, as it stands now, if it was to be rigourously applied as of next race, unquestionably would benefit the Bridgestone-shod teams, as their tyres do not need scrubbing, while teams using Michelin rubber need to run 10 or 15 laps on each set in order to scrub them ready to run on Sunday. The typical scenario will be that the Bridgestone teams will do their testing elsewhere, come to the race meeting, do the minimal run to set their cars, qualify and save on engine miles. Meanwhile, the Michelin teams wear their engines down scrubbing their tyres.

And, of course, the other element which is always last in the pecking order is the paying public, as they will see less cars running! But I guess we have to be thankful for small mercies, as at least they have kept the running on Fridays, which at one point looked as though it may be abolished.

What really surprises me is that they have left testing through the season almost open! So the engines that the teams don't use at race meetings will be used in testing, and believe me: if they have to last more than twice as long as they last now, there will be a lot of testing.

The other issue that also surprises me a lot is the fact that they left the electronics at status quo. Maybe the FIA bosses don't know that all those gizmos and their boffins don't come cheap. Get rid of them, get back to manual gearboxes and you will see how costs are cut and how overtaking increases.

I would agree with the smaller teams that if this is the future, it might as well start from next year. Why wait for 2004? It will be the same for everyone, but as far as losing ten places on the grid if you have to replace your engine, it is just not enough. I can see the likes of Michael Schumacher or the Williams drivers taking the risk as in some circumstances it would be worth losing ten places for the sake of a fresh engine on race day!

As far as giving the stewards more power to punish the drivers, this is bullshit and really makes me sick. Are we going back to school? Why do we have to keep on subduing the drivers' personalities, characters and freedom of expression by trying to intimidate them in a way that would stop them from doing their job properly for fear of being blackflagged or disqualified from the next race? This is already happening now, and it should be stopped. 98% of accidents are racing accidents, the other 2% only happen in extreme cases like Jerez 1997, but then again the World Championship was at stake.

We have a new driver in Formula One, Juan Pablo Montoya, coming from a different type of racing where they have leaner rules, and he has been a breath of fresh air already, rocking the establishment as he has not yet been intimidated by it. We want more like him, we do not want robots manipulated by rules. Why can't we go back to racing like it was in the Fifties and Sixties?

...I do not want to sound old, but we all try new cereals, and in the end we go back to good old cornflakes, the original and best!

About the author:
Jo Ramirez began working in Formula One in 1961, when he arrived to Europe from Mexico with his childhood friend Ricardo Rodriguez. He worked as a mechanic and a team manager with Dan Gurney, Emerson Fittipaldi, Ken Tyrrell and many others, before making McLaren his home for 18 years - where he worked as team co-ordinator between the years 1983 and 2001 and where he made life-long friendships with the sport's top drivers. Jo retired from F1 at the end of the 2001 season. He joined Atlas F1 as a regular columnist in February 2002.

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