Bernie Ecclestone: the noise is a “side effect” of the V6

Aside from the sound issues, Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 supremo, thought that the beginning of the new V6 era would actually be much worse than the show presented since the beginning of the season, with the lack of noise not being his main concern.

He states to the magazine Forbes: « I thought everything was going to be worse. I thought the cars would not be reliable and I thought half of the competitors would drop out. »

He even expresses admiration for the quality of design affirmed in the minds of the Formula 1 creatives: « In the end, the engineers did an incredible technical job. In fact, I saw a Mercedes engine the other day and I said I would like to buy one because it’s like a work of art. It’s like a beautiful sculpture, so it’s fantastic. »

The Englishman thinks that the sound is a symptom of the new regulation which, according to him, was not necessarily a phenomenon of which the authors were aware. « It’s like a lot of things,» he says. « You go to the doctor and you have a toothache or whatever and he gives you pills. The side effects come later. The people who wrote the regulation did not realize what the side effects would be. Neither did the people who built the engines. Why? Because they had never built one. This engine is a prototype. At one point, I said ‘why not push it back a year,’ and let someone run it because it has only run in a factory. Put it in a car to see what noise it makes. »

He specifies that the idea of reducing engine displacement came from the former FIA president Max Mosley. The goal was to get closer to what is found in production cars to attract more manufacturers: « It was Max who started this, but in all fairness to Max, he didn’t write the regulations. It would be a 1.5-liter [engine], in line with production cars. But he didn’t realize how the regulations would turn out. I don’t think anyone did. »