The F1 Engine Rules are Complicated: Prost

F1 legend Alain Prost has said that the sport must simplify its technical regulations as Liberty Media plot a 2021 overhaul. Four-time world champion Prost was one of the main protagonists in arguably F1’s most famous era in the 1980s and 1990s, highlighted by his rivalry with Ayrton Senna.

Prost now serves as an advisor to Renault’s F1 team, a victim of F1’s V6 Hybrid era as the French marque has been unable to keep pace with Mercedes and Ferrari.

Having powered Red Bull’s four consecutive titles between 2010-2013, the constructor will drop Renault in 2019, with their fractious relationship at breaking point.

Prost believes that the current iteration of F1 machinery takes responsibility away from drivers and says a chance is needed.

“The engine rules are the most complicated,” he told Ouest-France.

“Every change to the engine involves significant costs, but they should in any case be more powerful with more fuel available and more performance.

“Technically it should be simpler, giving rise to the possibility of surprise, ingenuity, and the driver making the difference, rather than these machines of war that we see today where 80 per cent of the performance is aero and engine.

“I would like to see a better balance.

“Personally I would remove the diffuser. In my day we had different concepts with big performance and we followed each other with no problem. We need much simpler cars aerodynamically.”

Although conceding it is unlikely, Prost says a return to the more open days of his driving career made for a greater spectacle.

“Over a year we had turbos, V8, V10, V12 [engines], Michelin, Goodyear, Pirelli [tyres],” he said.

“We cannot go back to the past because it’s very complicated to have different technologies. But it’s a balance of technology that makes the difference.”