Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA are planning to introduce a cheaper engine option in Formula One by 2017 as an alternative to the current V6 turbo hybrids.
Ecclestone has criticised the current engine regulations since their introduction in 2014, claiming they are too complicated and too expensive. He now wants to see a larger capacity twin-turbo V6 engine on offer for roughly a third of the price of the current power units and has set the wheels in motion with the FIA to start looking for potential candidates.
"My proposal is to leave the constructors alone, they are the constructors, and leave them with the engine they have got to get on with things between themselves and then the other people have more or less a standard engine and can make their own chassis," he told reporters in Austin.
"They [the new engines] will probably have more power and use more fuel so it means, I suppose, that there will be some regulation changes - which have already been anticipated for 2017 anyway, so there's nothing new."
Ecclestone said there were a couple of potential suppliers showing interest and the FIA would announce an official tender for the supply deal on Monday. However, a cheap and fuel-thirsty alternative that can compete with the current power units is likely to upset F1's existing manufacturers that have invested heavily in the efficiency of their smaller capacity engines and hybrid technology. But Ecclestone shrugged off such concerns, claiming the manufacturers' investment had been well spent for their own purposes.
"The money they spent, the R&D they spent, it was for their road cars."
With the help of the FIA, Ecclestone is confident he can get the idea through the Strategy Group -- which formulates rules and has representation from six of the ten teams -- and then push it through the next stage of the rule-making procedure in time for 2017. The only potential obstacle would be Ferrari, which has long held a veto over changes to the technical regulations, but Ecclestone sounded bullish about his chances.
"It depends what their veto rights are. It's a bit complicated actually," he said. "On the Strategy Group the thing is that there are six votes for the teams, six votes for the FIA and six votes for the commercial rights holder. If by chance the FIA and the commercial rights holder agree then it won't make a lot of difference what the teams think."