Debate continues over F1 'electric mode'

F1 News
Date: 5/August/2011

The debate over F1's future engine format may be settled, but another sentence in the 2014 technical rules looks set to become a new battleground between the FIA and F1 boss Berne Ecclestone.

That sentence is as follows: "5.19 Electric mode: The car must be run in electric mode (no ignition and no fuel supply to the engine) at all times when being driven in the pit lane."

In other words, the cars will run silently on electric-only propulsion whenever they make a pit stop.

The battle to retain F1's noise appeal was won by Ecclestone in the case of engines, with the proposed four-cylinder turbos - which Ecclestone feared would be a poor sound replacement for the present V8 non-turbo engines - now being replaced by V6 turbos.

FIA president Jean Todt is keen to promote green technology as much as possible and the new V6 engines will also feature an Energy Recovery System [ERS] which will harvest, and then release on demand, more power than the present KERS system.

While such systems add to the show, in terms of providing a short-term power boost that can aid overtaking, from a 'green marketing' point of view their presence is undetectable.

It is surely for this reason that the FIA has included the 'electric mode' rule for 2014, so that even a viewer watching a grand prix for the first time will know that F1 is using - and developing - green technology.

But Ecclestone remains unimpressed, saying there is "no way" the electric pit lane will happen, due to safety concerns of cars moving silently, and again adding that noise is one of F1's biggest attractions.