Ferrari vetoed Formula One cost reduction measures that included a proposal to set a maximum price for the engines and gearboxes manufacturers supply to teams, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) said on Monday.
The FIA said it had studied a range of measures, including a global cost ceiling, the use of technical and sporting regulations to cut costs and increased standardization of parts.
“The FIA, in agreement with FOM [the commercial rights holder], suggested the principle of setting a maximum price for engine and gearbox for client teams at the last strategy group meeting,” it said in a statement. “These measures were put to the vote and adopted with a large majority. However, Ferrari SpA decided to go against this and exercise the right of veto long recognized under agreements governing F1.”
Photo: AFP
The FIA said it had decided not to make a legal challenge to Ferrari’s veto, in the interests of the championship, but would now talk to all stakeholders about the possible introduction of a cheaper engine option from 2017.
It could then call for tenders for the contract.
Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff confirmed separately that Ferrari had used their veto.
“There was discussion about opening up the rules for next year as a main topic and whether there would be any appetite from us for a standard engine ... and Ferrari decided to vote against the change in supply price,” Wolff said.
Formula One commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said on Saturday that the plan was to offer a less complex engine as an alternative to the costly V6 turbo hybrid power units made by Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Honda.
Teams could then choose which to use.
“They [the cheaper engines] will probably have more power and use more fuel. It means, I suppose, that there would be regulation changes, which have already been anticipated for 2017, so there’s nothing new,” Ecclestone said.
The sport switched from V8s to V6 turbo hybrids last year. The alternative is likely to be a 2.2-liter V6 twin turbo similar to those used in the US Indy Car series.
Ecclestone said that Cosworth would be interested in returning with a less complicated option, but others were also in the frame.
The 84-year-old said the introduction of a different engine would not turn the championship into a two-tier series and pointed out that decades ago the sport had both turbo engines and normally aspirated ones.
South Korean giants T1, led by “Faker,” won their fifth League of Legends (LoL) world championship crown in London on Saturday, beating China’s Bilibili Gaming (BLG) in a thrilling final. The teams were locked at 2-2 at a packed O2 arena, but T1 clinched game five to make it back-to-back titles after nearly four hours of tense action. China’s BLG started strongly, taking the first game before T1 struck back to level. The Chinese team pulled ahead again at 2-1 only for their opponents to hit back again and go on to take the decider. Faker, who won the Most
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Belgian partner Elise Mertens on Monday notched up their first win in the doubles group stage of the WTA Finals in Riyadh to keep their semi-final hopes alive, while Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russian partner Veronika Kudermetova were aiming to record their first victory after press time last night. Third seeds Hsieh and Mertens came back from a disheartening opening-day loss to Australia’s Ellen Perez and Nicole Melichar-Martinez to defeat top seeds Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the women’s doubles world No. 3 and 4 respectively. The 6-1, 6-3 victory at King Saud University Indoor Arena
Amber Glenn overcame a fall and her own doubts to win a maiden Grand Prix figure skating title on Saturday at the Grand Prix de France. The American skater had the lead from Friday’s short program. That and the support of the crowd got her through a tough free skate in which she fell on a triple flip and put a hand onto the ice to steady herself on two other jumps. “I didn’t feel that great out there today, but I really tried, and the audience really got me through that last half when I was doubting myself,” Glenn
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re