Q: You mentioned turbocharging. Do you have any views on cubic-centimeter limits or when it might come in?
MM: The capacity would be up for discussion because we don't want to have a ridiculous level of horsepower. What we would be looking at is probably bringing in the regulation in 2011. There would then be a fuel-flow valve and you would size the engine so it still ran up in the 18,000-19,000 bracket, because that's what a racing engine is. Certainly, 15,000 plus. Then the size of the engine could be a function of the fuel you were using, probably a bio fuel, the amount of energy that teams were recovering from the brakes and then re-using, because that would increase the total power of the drivetrain, plus the energy recovered from surplus heat from the engine, also additional power for the drivetrain, and taking all those things into account we wouldn't want to have much more power than we have today. So you would work back from those parameters and that would then determine the size of the engine.
BG: I agree. We have to develop the full picture of all components and then in the end we have to decide what kind of engine it is. But it has to be a racing engine, a real racing car, the top league of a race car. That is clear.
Q: What remains to be resolved then? Issues of rule-making? Rule-applying? Rule-changing?
MM: Really now there are no issues as such. We have simply set up a structure to determine the rules to fit into the parameters which we've agreed. This will be done over the next year or two. It will be an ongoing process. We may see new revolutions, particularly in the use of electronics, chassis dynamics, the relationship between electronics and the chassis. There are enormous possibilities there. And these will then be discussed by an expert group with members from the FIA and the manufacturers.
Q: Obviously we are all delighted to see peace in our time, but the warring has caused a bit of damage with lots of news in the media, lots of public criticism of each side.
Maybe that has left a sense of dissatisfaction amongst stakeholders, fans and the media. Do you have in mind any programs, whether that be marketing or PR, to push Formula 1 back to a happy situation, maybe help TV figures climb again, magazine sales climb again? What do you think?
MM: Today's meeting shows the end of any suggestion that there is conflict. If there is anything wrong with F1 from the point of view of TV figures, audience and that sort of thing, it hasn't come from the discussions about regulations. It has come from other matters.
There are issues about how we improve the show and that obviously is something to be discussed. It is by no means self-evident what should be done. We need to do a little bit more research there. If we know what would improve the show it is relatively easy technically to do what is necessary. Again you have to define the objectives and then the technology will follow.
I wouldn't accept that the FIA and manufacturer discussions over the past five years have damaged F1. I don't think the public takes too much notice. They are much more interested in whether Alonso did or did not impede Massa and things of that kind.
Q: I heard, around the time of Suzuka, that you said Max that you weren't sure the FIA needed to be a signatory of the new Concorde Agreement. Was that accurate? And, Professor Goschel, how important is it to you that the FIA is a signatory?
BG: It is important and the most important thing is that we finish the Concorde Agreement. A new Concorde Agreement should be possible and should be done in a very short space of time in my opinion.
MM: I completely agree. Although the FIA clearly could survive without a Concorde Agreement, because for F1's first 30 years there was no Concorde Agreement, it would be much better to have one. I think now we have the basis for one because it is really a question of setting down formally that which has already been agreed.
Q: And you'd sign it?
MM: Yes.
