Mostly because of politics, but there is still an official explanation. F1 engines in 2005 was V10s, and had to be 3 litre engine capacity. The fight for horsepower turned out to get potentially dangerous as Mercedes and Renault had well near 950 hp at the end of this season, perhaps even more. But few complained of engine power being dangerous.
Next year we have strict ruled 2.4 litre 90 degree V8's. It's insane how little development you can do for an engine when almost everything is defined by the rules. Official reason is they want reduced costs in F1. But manufacturers have to invest and cope with a new range of vibrations coming from V8s than the previous V10s, and more problems. It happens much in F1 behind doors, because it sometimes feel as the politics overshadows the fans, they play their own political game. Especially it's heated talks in the background of the rules and who's got how much TV-money. Manufacturers even threatens to start a new series in favour of F1, the GPWC. However fans are the important factor that sometimes is forgotten. |