FIA Dumps 2013 Formula 1 Engine Change as Audi Calls the Sport Irrelevant

The debate about new Formula 1 engine regulations for the 2013 season has largely come and gone without much fuss.

For awhile, there was a strong push for a four-cylinder, turbocharged effort, rev-limited to around 12,000 RPM. This was originally touted as a green initiative, designed to deliver a 35 percent reduction in fuel consumption while still delivering equivalent power to the current 2.4-litre V8's.

And that’s fine—if you like your F1 cars to sound like lawnmowers.

Fortunately, sanity prevailed and there has been compromise. A higher-revving V6 will be introduced in 2014.

The change of heart came about thanks to resistance from most of the engine manufacturers, with the exception of Renault, for whom four-cylinder turbos comprise a large chunk of the core business.

It seems that even apart from the sound that the engines make, it would be difficult to use the smaller engines as a structural component of the car. Changing to a V6—even without going to a larger capacity—gives much more flexibility in the construction of the car.

While the environmental argument for the engine change sounded entirely plausible, Red Bull’s Chief Technical Officer and design maestro, Adrian Newey, has told ESPN that the decision was being driven by a desire to attract Audi back into F1.

Since the loss of the two Japanese manufacturers, Honda and Toyota, there has been a quiet desperation to get another mainstream manufacturer back into the sport.

Audi, with its solid racing pedigree and impressive sports car stable, were an ideal target.

According to Newey, Audi had made a commitment to join the F1 circus if the move to the four-cylinder engines went ahead.

But then they changed their minds.

In May this year, leading up to the 2011 Le Mans 24-hour race, Audi’s motorsport boss, Wolfgang Ullrich, dismissed F1 as irrelevant.

"There's a very good reason why we are not in F1. There's no relevance to the road," Ullrich told Car magazine.

"Audi has always been engaged in motorsport that's relevant to our customers such as rallying and touring cars, which brought quattro, FSI and TFSI to our road cars," he claimed.

"This is why in 1999 we decided against F1. Instead we decided to take on the greatest race in the world. We went for Le Mans."

Harsh words indeed, and worthy of a close examination as to which branch of motorsport, F1 or Le Mans, has had more impact of the road car industry.

Either way, it seems like an odd trick to play, and despite what Herr Ullrich has claimed, F1 is still the pinnacle of world motorsport. It seems odd that Audi don’t want to be part of it.

But, if the engine change was the price we had to pay to get Audi on board, perhaps F1 is better off without them.