Renault Sport F1 would be handed too much power inside Formula 1, should it be granted permission by the FIA to supply as many as six teams in 2014. That is the opinion of PURE’s Craig Pollock ahead of the season which will signal the start of a new era for the sport, with V8 engines being replaced by greener, 1.6-litre V6 turbo units.
F1 currently fields 2.4-litre V8 powerplants and the switch to V6s will see PURE join the fray alongside Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Renault. Cosworth are not expected to remain on the grid. Renault MD Jean-François Caubet has already suggested expanding to six supply contracts, should the F1 governing body grant authorisation and change the current rule which limits engine companies to a maximum of three teams.
“We need to choose what our will be strategy for 2014,” Caubet told Autosport. “We have two kinds of options: to focus on two teams or to choose a bigger figure. In any case, the decision will be taken in September this year because we need to decide what we do.”
Pollock (CEO of PURE) believes that, should the FIA give Renault permission to provide engines to more teams than it already does, the French marque will be given an unfair advantage.
“I think there are a few ways of looking at it,” Pollock told GPUpdate.net in an exclusive interview. “Yes, it would give them too much power inside the sport and I’m sure that Mercedes and Ferrari wouldn’t be overly happy about that; plus it would give them more feedback to develop their engines, so that would be another advantage.
“On the other hand, PURE is going to be there in 2014, offering engine supplies at lower rates. So why should the sport authorise six supply agreements to Renault? It’s a very dangerous situation for F1 if it happens. When you get a company like that, they could make a board decision from one minute to the next and say, ‘Right, that’s it, sorry guys – we’re out of F1’. All of sudden you would have a potential situation when Mercedes and Ferrari would have to supply the whole field. That is not positive.”
Renault currently supplies Red Bull, Lotus, Williams and Caterham; it was allowed to work with a fourth team after the Williams-Cosworth partnership came to an end.
Read in full:
Exclusive interview with PURE's Craig Pollock
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| Craig Pollock | |
|---|---|
| 1 Oct '12 | Ecclestone: The new F1 engines sound terrible |
| 27 Jul '12 | PURE suspends engine building for 2014 |
| 21 Jun '12 | Pollock: Six Renault teams dangerous for F1 |
| 21 Jun '12 | Exclusive interview with PURE's Craig Pollock |
| Formula 1 | |
| 19 May | Hamilton: We must keep focusing on races |
| 19 May | Video of the Day: LEGO Ferrari Formula 1 car |
| 18 May | Rosberg hopes to capitalise on one-lap pace |
| 18 May | Video of the Day: A closer look at braking |
| PURE | |
| 7 Aug '12 | Teams wary of spiralling engine costs |
| 19 Jun '12 | ‘New F1 engines will sound like rocket ships’ |
| 14 Jun '12 | PURE still open to supplying three teams |
| 31 Jan '12 | McLaren hushed over engine future |
| Renault Sport F1 | |
| 13 Oct '12 | Renault celebrates 200th pole in Formula 1 |
| 21 Sep '12 | Renault’s Cyril Abiteboul to become Caterham CEO |
| 11 Sep '12 | Renault admits Vettel failures ‘unacceptable’ |
| 25 Jun '12 | Vettel hit by same problem as Grosjean |
| Craig Pollock | |||
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