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F1 could go all electric in 10 years, says Ross Brawn

Utkarsh Bhatla
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The new engine regulations are set to kick in by 2021 but the V6 turbo-hybrid formula would still from the basis of it.

However, in the future F1 could shift away from the V6 turbo hybrid formula engines and Ross Brawn, the motorsport director of Formula 1 feels that in a 10 year time frame, the electric cars could make an appearance in F1.

Traditional F1 fans aren’t quite for ‘all electric cars’ because it would significantly impact the speeds of the cars. Brawn has confirmed that F1 would look to go the electric way only if it keeps the excitement of F1 intact.

Formula E is the only all electric motorsport series at the moment, and Brawn brought that into his comments while referring to an ‘all electric F1′.

“I think we have to respect what Formula E is doing and what it’s achieving,” he said as quoted by F1 fan voice.

“But if you look at the magnitude of the two they are not really comparable; the amount of fans we have and the appeal of Formula One, Formula E is still very junior in that respect.

“I think Formula One will evolve in the direction that has the right balance of sport, relevance and engagement with the fans. If in five years’ time or ten years’ time there is a need, desire or wish to have a different type of power unit in Formula One then we will do it. There is nothing to stop us having electric Formula One cars in the future.

“At the moment they don’t deliver the spectacle, and with all due respect if you go to a Formula E race it is a pretty junior category of motor racing. It’s a great event in terms of all of the stuff that is going on around it, but the race itself is pretty tame when you compare it to a Formula One event. The cars are not particularly fast, you don’t have the personalities involved but they are doing a fabulous job at putting on an event and making it a street party.

“Formula One is different to that, Formula One is the pinnacle of motorsport, the speeds we do, the calibre of drivers we have and the teams we have, and if that moves in five or ten years’ time to a different power source then we will do it if that is most appealing and achieves what we want to achieve. I don’t see Formula One being locked into internal combustion engines forever, but who knows where we are in ten years.

“Ten years ago I don’t think many people would be able to predict where the world is now and therefore I don’t know where we will be in ten years, but Formula One will move in the right direction.” he added.

Brawn accepted the fact that the old loud F1 engines do excite him, but he feels that bringing them back is not the correct way to go about it.

“There is a part of me which would love that to happen. I do love the old F1 engines but I don’t see how we could make that step back without such a radical revolution that would really polarise Formula One and split it apart.

“The manufacturers we have in Formula One at the moment are committed to the engines we have now, and should we have a revolution? I don’t think so. I’d love to have those engines but it’s not going to happen, so we need to evolve the engines we have now and learn the lessons from introducing these engines to see how we can take them in a direction that is a bit more appealing to the fans.” he concluded.

Electric cars would dampen the spectacle as far as we can see at the moment, but who knows what happens in the next 10 years. Until then, let’s roast the authorities for even thinking down this line, will we?

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