OMNISPORT

Budget restrictions and simplified power units are among the changes put forward by Formula One bosses on Friday.

As the paddock prepares for the second race of the season this weekend in Bahrain, F1 has suggested a number of alterations to be implemented from 2021. Earlier this week, McLaren racing director Eric Boullier expressed his wish that "hopefully there will be enough restriction in this to close up the gap or to have a level playing field" and the initial ideas proposed by F1 to the FIA and the teams appear to follow that path.

The F1 release outlined the changes under five headings: power units (PU), costs, revenues, sporting/technical rules and regulations, and governance.

"The PU must be cheaper, simpler, louder, have more power and reduce the necessity of grid penalties," the release read. "We believe how you spend the money must be more decisive and important than how much money you spend. [We will] Implement a cost cap that maintains Formula One's position as the pinnacle of motorsport with a state-of-the-art technology.

"The cars must and will remain different from each other and maintain performance differentiators like aerodynamics, suspensions and PU performance. However, we believe areas not relevant to fans need to be standardised."

These proposals are expected to be received negatively by leading teams such as Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, for whom current regulations allow the opportunity to further increase the performance gap between themselves and the rest of the grid.

In a media conference in Bahrain on Friday, the bosses of Williams, McLaren and Haas faced reporters and Claire Williams expressed her support for the plans, which she suggested may come to fruition regardless of how the top teams react.

"I was extremely positive about today's meeting, I have to say," the Williams chief said. "I think we've all hoped for change under our new management and I think today they presented change. I think for a team like ours, based on what they presented, it was an extremely good day for us. I came back thinking 'let's crack open some champagne', because from our perspective if we can get these new regulations through, and if Liberty/FOM [Formula One Management] do everything they say they are going to do, that they presented this morning, then from our perspective I know that Williams' future is safe.

"I know that in the past you can have these conversations and they come out and not necessarily anything is ever done about it, but I'm not sure these discussions are negotiable. That's not the message I got anyway."