Theissen wants new rule defined

BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen wants the new one engine per weekend rule, which comes into force in 2004, to be more clearly defined to save any confusion. The decision by the FIA to only have one engine per race weekend is aimed at cost cutting in F1 and has been approved by some but Theissen thinks the rule is too vague.

"If the rules aren't exactly defined, it could get very tricky," he said. "How is the term 'new engine' defined exactly? Which components are allowed to be replaced? Who will oversee these repairs? What would happen, when a driver doesn't go out on Friday, only completes the qualifying on Saturday and then the race on Sunday? He would only need the 400 kilometre engine of today, which would clearly be more powerful than an 800 kilometre engine."

Theissen does approve of the efforts to keep financial overheads down but is cautionary about going too far down the path of technology: "In this business, you have to keep in mind the cost-measures involved," he said. "Technical advancement as a fascination is well and good and also necessary to make the production series progress, but we don't want a technical overkill."

Some have suggested that the one engine rule could even increase costs as teams will have to spend more time and expense on making sure the engine will last but FIA President Max Mosley dismisses that argument.

"That's a real after dinner second bottle of wine argument," said Mosley. "If teams say they have to make stronger components, then they would be using them now anyway and using higher revs. Whichever way you look at it making one engine has to be cheaper than making three."