Haas F1 team principal: Formula 1 should keep turbocharged V6s

Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner wants Formula 1 to retain its current turbocharged V6 hybrid powertrains, despite pressure for the sport to switch to louder units.

Speaking to Autocar ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, Steiner said sticking with the powerplants makes financial sense because developing a new drivetrain would be extremely expensive.

“We have very advanced technology at the moment which cost a lot to develop, but if we froze development now it wouldn’t be very expensive,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how cheap a new engine is, the biggest cost is the research and development phase.”

FIA president Jean Todt recently held an F1 engine summit in Paris, where teams and manufacturers discussed what direction to take with powerplants when the sport’s current engine period ends in 2020. The general consensus of the meeting was that change was needed to address the noise and drivetrain complexity issues of the current V6s.

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