FIA President Max Mosley: Keynote Statement in Monte Carlo

FIA President Max Mosley gave the keynote address to the third annual Motor Sport Business Forum in Monaco this morning, where he presented the latest thinking behind the developments in the FIA Formula One World Championship.

He was joined by Burkhard Göschel, Chairman of the Formula One Manufacturers Advisory Commission and one of the world’s leading authorities on the modern car industry, who offered his opinion on these developments from a manufacturer’s point of view. Speaking to a packed auditorium Mosley first talked about the new rules which will see the development of engines frozen for the next 10 years and the introduction of new energy recovery devices which are hugely relevant to the car industry.

Mosley said: “The biggest element in the new approach to F1 is with the engine. Full engine freeze is very imminent now. Why are we doing that? The F1 racing engine is fully developed, there is no need to develop an F1 engine any further. The engine runs at 19,000 rpm which is far faster than any comparable engine. It sounds good, it’s reliable and amazingly the six partially frozen engines of the current manufacturers are really evenly matched.

“Instead, we will allow manufacturers to spend money on technology which is really useful. The first part of that is the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) device, which we are introducing in 2009. This is exactly the sort of thing that F1 should be doing because F1 has a need to show that it is useful.”

This is just as important for the Formula One’s commercial partners as it is for the manufacturers and technical partners, said Mosley. He added: “It is necessary to demonstrate to society that F1 is doing something useful because every major sponsor has an environmental impact committee and it is absolutely essential for F1 teams to be able to demonstrate to major companies that they are able to really make a contribution.”

Mosley then introduced Burkhard Göschel, who said that the planned introduction of devices such as KERS will put Formula One at the cutting edge of the car industry.

Göschel said: “Formula One should be road car relevant. The car industry has a big challenge in improving the efficiency of cars and to reduce CO2. With a move towards more hybrid and eventually electric cars, energy storage is the most important development process which is taking place in the car industry at the moment. F1, with the introduction of KERS and heat recovery devices, is therefore at the leading edge.”

He added: “Raising engine speed from 19,000 rpm to 20,000 rpm is not relevant for the car industry. But KERS and heat recovery are relevant and I can tell you that Formula One has made a step to the leading edge of technology. It is driving this process forward.”

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This release was published on openPR.