The first to raise the matter was the CEO of Aston Martin, Martin Whitmarsh, then team principal Mike Krack returned to the subject. It is a topic under discussion between some teams and the FIA, and it relates to the costs that each team currently faces to design and build the transmission.
An effort that Aston Martin will have to face starting from 2026, when it will lose the supply currently guaranteed by Mercedes to switch to its own transmission to be combined with the Honda power unit.
Mike Krack, Team Principal of the Aston Martin F1 Team, on the pit wall
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“Today the change is no longer an element that involves a difference in performance between the various teams – explained Krack – everyone is aligned in terms of performance. But the cost of this component is very high, especially if we compare it with other categories in motorsport. At a time when we operate under a budget cap it makes sense to ask the question of whether it makes sense to use such a complicated technology if there is no difference in performance. A team spends between 8 and 9 million on broadcasting every season, and I repeat, it’s something that hasn’t made any difference for some time now”.
“We talked about it with the FIA – continued Krack – asking to evaluate a simplification. If it were decided to adopt a simpler technology, most likely there would also be advantages in terms of the life of the components and perhaps over the course of a season there would be fewer replacements than the current four (envisaged by the regulation). If you add up what the paddock as a whole spends on broadcasting we get close to 100 million per season, then you wonder if it makes sense, given that there are excellent examples of simplifications in other categories. That’s why we raised the question and are currently talking about it.”
Krack then went into detail about the concept of ‘simplification’.
“I think there can be a healthy compromise, perhaps keeping some aspects with a high technological content and simplifying others. For example, differentials in Formula 1 are unique compared to other categories, and very expensive. We can talk about the concept of seamless, the quantity of gears, let’s say that a concept of standardization could make sense on some components. I don’t want to go so far as to say that we want the same gearbox for all teams, but design specifications could be introduced just to reduce costs, and the margins are very large.’
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