The meeting took place as a result of a joint letter signed by Ferrari, Mercedes and Cosworth (3 of the 4 engine manufacturers currently competing in F1), in which they state their concerns over the 2013 move.
On the one hand, a manufacturer like Ferrari is obviously not comfortable with the new engine plan, as its production car business doesn’t include investments in such small engines. Consequently, its F1 budget would be limited and would make no financial sense for the Maranello organization.
On the other hand, switching to a new engine – initially believed to reduce expenses by at least 30 percent – would actually force manufacturers to spend more in their engine departments, as they’d have to develop their ongoing V8s and upcoming 1.6-litre units in parallel, through the 2012 campaign.
According to several media in Spain, Todt did not change his stance following his meeting with the teams, although one other option has now surfaced: delay the introduction of the new engine for an extra year, and therefore allow current engine manufacturers to run their V8s longer, while also have more time to develop new units.
“I think he's beginning to understand that the manufacturers all realise it's going to cost them a lot of money and they can't hand that on to their customers because the engines are going to be too expensive,” said Ecclestone in a recent interview with Reuters, as quoted by Autosport.
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