Red Bull want 'gloves-off' fight as new engine rules come into play

Red Bull Powertrains technical director Ben Hodgkinson has asserted he would rather a “gloves-off” approach to developing the new power units.

This year sees the introduction of fresh power units, which see dramatic changes compared to the predecessors - including a boost in electrical output that puts it level with the combustion engine.

However, in a bid to ensure one single manufacturer does not run away from the rest of the competition, F1 has introduced the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) system.

This will see a review conducted after the sixth, 12th and 18th races of the year - a scheme that Hodgkinson is not a fan of.

“I would personally love just to get rid of homologation, have a gloves-off fight, that's what I'd really like.

“But we are where we are, we have a cost cap and we have dyno hours limits, so I think there's enough limits in place without this.”

The last time F1 introduced a major power unit change in 2014, Mercedes emerged as the pick of the field and dominated for the next several years.

Despite the ADUO measures in place, Hodgkinson asserted it will not be easy for trailing manufacturers to catch up.

“Does it sufficiently reward the people that get it right? I think so,” he said.

“The bit that I don't think is fully understood amongst the rule makers is the gestation time of an idea in power units is much longer than it is in chassis.

“So if I need to make a change, firstly, I've not just got two cars to update, I've got a whole fleet of engines in the pool, so I could have 12 engines that I need to update, and so that takes time.

“But also, because we're homologated, you can't really take a flyer on something that isn't well proven because you could be signing up to a world of pain.

“So we've got a minimum number of durability that we'd want to achieve on our new part and our new idea.

“Our parts normally are very, very high-precision metal bits that just take time to manufacture, so we can have a 12-week manufacturing time on some bits. 

“And then it will take a similar length of time to prove it all out, and then a similar length of time to get it all furnished in the race pool.”

“If a team has an advantage on the power unit in race one, it's going to take some time before anyone else can catch up.

“A way to peg them back is kind of what's necessary, which the ADUO does offer in some respects, but I think after six races it's assessed, so technically the seventh you can introduce the update.

“I think that it's quite challenging to come up with an update in a couple of weeks – if I had 20 kilowatts to bolt on the engine right now, I'd do it.”