Most formula one teams cannot afford to pay the prices quoted by engine manufacturers for next year’s all-new turbo V6 engines.
That is the claim of the German newspaper Bild, insisting that grandees Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes aside, the other seven teams are balking at the price demanded by F1’s three V6 suppliers Renault, Ferrari and Mercedes.
"Even in Barcelona," said Bild correspondent Helmut Uhl, "you could feel the strange, invisible tension."
He wrote that, world champions and ’works’ partner Red Bull aside, 2014 customers Williams, Caterham, Toro Rosso and even the highly competitive Lotus cannot afford to pay French supplier Renault the fee of EUR 23 million per season.
Mercedes, supplying McLaren and Force India, has reportedly lowered its price to between 18 and 20 million, while Sauber and Marussia are being asked for 15m by Ferrari.