[WapSaibian]

Well that's what Norbert Haug was saying in China, that Mercedes have been spending a lot of money on making an engine be just as powerful in the second race. I wonder how much is actually saved?

I suspect very very little in the grand scheme of things. They may actually produce a few more engine a season, but development obviously continues. Cosworth did 1000 mile rebuilds in Champcar with very good reliability and a very very small loss of performance over that span of time. If the F1 teams can't build an engine to last half that long with the money they invest, they should be embarassed.

I say eliminate the pneumatic valve trains, even though they are very reliable. With a conventional valve train, RPM's immediately fall to +/- the 16,000 range. Unless I've missed something, I've yet to see a pneumatic valve train appear in a street car so the arguments that they are developing future technology is flawed. KERS coupled with a much lower cost / tightly managed spec but still open to all manufacturers is the way to move imho.

F1 can and should force a change to a much more conventionally constructed engine spec that can be produced and maintained at a miniscule cost compared to what they have now and still provide more than ample power in the 700-800hp range. As much as I appreciate the sound of a modern F1 engine It's simply not necessary to have engines that idle at 7K rpm and make most of their power at close to 20K. I'm sure all of the urban oriented races now on the schedule would also appreciate a bit quieter engine spec.

yet again, F1 and the FIA move one step closer to what champcar was

[Kolokireo]

... Unless I've missed something, I've yet to see a pneumatic valve train appear in a street car ...

There's no need. Pneumatically actuated valves provide no real benefit to a street car that revs at ~5,000rpm.

[andreas]

You will see pneumatic valvetrains soon enough. Camless engines will be with us in a year or two. Google Fiat Multiair and you'll see

[shanice]

FIA is dominated by a bunch of lunatics. Mosley is so up & about because he escaped a scandal, & F1 is seen as too expensive to sustain. FOM & the GPMA should seriously consider breaking away from FIA for trying to force the wrong reforms on F1. Engine to last three races? That is just silly.

[TimoDass]

FIA is dominated by a bunch of lunatics. Mosley is so up & about because he escaped a scandal, & F1 is seen as too expensive to sustain. FOM & the GPMA should seriously consider breaking away from FIA for trying to force the wrong reforms on F1. Engine to last three races? That is just silly.

I disagree, we don't need FOM either.