Does that mean they will leave Formula 1 completely or will they insist that if they are to remain involved Formula 1 must change to a hairy chested version of the current, all electric, Formula E? Hopefully with more battery life than a strong flashlight.
Despite the good intentions and election speak coming from Governments around the world, exclusively electric powered vehicles making up more than 50% of all vehicles on the roads is still a decent way into the future but it is the international legislation now being introduced and the car makers in Europe, Japan and the US who will force the technology to make it happen, at some point.
Frankly I think it would perhaps be better if the large car makers pulled out of the sport completely. Of course it would cause huge disruption and the ride for the sport would be very bumpy with the loss of millions of dollars worth of publicity and investment, the loss of jobs and the big money paid to the drivers would disappear overnight. Teams could be forced to close and sponsors would flee 'stage right' in droves. Formula 1 would be knocked onto the bones of it's backside, no doubt about that.
The cost of competing is, for the teams, prohibitive and many in the sport are already calling for an increase in the standard parts list that Formula 1 cars have to fit. Not, in F1 CEO Chase Carey's words "looking to dumb the cars down" but to "improve the overall economics of the business".
Who can possibly question that sentiment with the massively expensive power units of today costing a team something north of $30 million per season while at the same time being totally irrelevant in practical terms to actual road cars?
It was not so long ago, in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, even into the 1990s that the Cosworth engine company ruled supreme and a Cosworth engine was for sale to pretty much any team that had the money, a tiny fraction of today's costs. Mated with the Hewland gearbox it meant that many of the top teams, mainly British, ran the same engine and drive train. Ferrari was one exception and it was with some distain that Mr. Enzo Ferrari himself called these early British teams 'Garagistas'.
This was a period when Formula 1 gained huge traction with the public and the fans and built the core of support it has today. With constant evolution it was by no means a 'one make' formula but it was possible to have exciting racing on a very limited budget by today's standards,
It would be a massive understatement to say that times have changed, of course they have, but if there were no huge corporations making racing engines then that vacuum would be filled in an instant by specialist independent race engine builders.
The question remains, does Formula 1 need to be relevant to road cars - at all and if so - why? Racing is the core business of Formula 1 racing teams and the notion that the sport should be the leader in technology in terms of power units is long gone. The annual advances in that sector are so rapid that the sport cannot hope to lead, nor follow, so don't even try.
A new engine formula that combines some hybrid element is inevitable but whatever that formula is, it must have all the elements that keep the core value of the sport intact. A sport in which no ordinary mortal can compete and in cars that are fit for purpose. Racing cars, not technological pieces of art that can safely race through the greenest of forests without leaving an atom of pollution in their wake.
Frankly I would like to see the return of the full on, gas guzzling V8/10/12 engines of the past with all the beautiful sounds and noise they brought.
They were 'oarsome' with a capital 'O'.
