Ferrari threatens to quit F1 over engine rule change

Ferrari has announced it will quit F1 after the 2020 season if new engine proposals are introduced by Formula 1's new owners in 2021.

The new rules proposed by F1's new owners, Liberty Media, involved removing the energy recovery system from an F1 car's turbocharger – a device that claws back 60 per cent of the total energy.

Perhaps even more controversial, Liberty has even suggested using some standardised parts.

Using off the shelf parts and removing the hybrid MGU-H system, it was hoped, would make F1 engines cheaper to develop, simpler and noisier - but the changes have been met with objections from Mercedes and Renault who worry the rule change will demand major re-engineering, huge financial investment and begin a new F1 arms race.

Ferrari has gone one step further by announcing it would pull the plug in 2021 if implemented.

Making the threat in a telephone conference with financial analysts following Ferrari's latest financial results, the famous Italian team's president, Sergio Marchionne, admitted that F1 had been "part of our DNA since the day we were born".

But added: "If we change the sandbox to the point it becomes unrecognisable, I don't want to play any more."

Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault will now eagerly await a meeting on November 7 with Liberty Media, the FIA and six leading teams.

Liberty is expected to reveal yet more details on how it plans to reduce the huge costs involved with competing in the pinnacle of motor racing that is expected to include a budget cap for all teams.

Praising F1's new owners' cost-cutting attitude, Marchionne said: "Liberty has got a couple of good intentions in all of this, one of which is to reduce the cost of execution for the team, which I think is good.

"There are a couple of things we don't necessarily agree with, one of which is the fact that somehow powertrain uniqueness is not going to be one of the drivers of distinctiveness of the participants' line-up. I would not countenance this going forward.

"The fact we now appear to be at odds in terms of the strategic development of this thing, and we see the sport in 2021 taking on a different air is going to force some decisions on the part of Ferrari."

During the call, Marchionne expressed his fears that Liberty's grand plan was to transform F1 into a sport similar to American Nascar that uses standard cars and employs various 'artificial' measures to keep racing close.

"I don't want to play Nascar globally, I just don't," Ferrari's president added.

As well as reducing overall costs for teams competing, Liberty Media says it also wants to better redistribute prize money.

So far three out of the four engine suppliers reject the new rules. Only Honda has yet to comment publicly over the rule changes.