Renault says there is nothing the engine manufacturers can do to increase the noise produced by this season’s Formula 1 cars without a change in regulations.
The noise produced by the new-for-2014 1.6-litre turbo engines has become a hot topic during the first two races, with fans complaining the cars sound too quiet and F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel labelling the new cars “s**t” compared to the sound of the old V8 engines.
Renault’s head of track operations, Remi Taffin, told AUTOSPORT that F1 would be stuck with the sound it has unless the regulations changed.
“There’s two big items that drive this,” he said.
“Firstly revs: we went from 18,000 to something like 12,000 this year.
“It’s important to say it’s based on the regulations, because they set 15,000 as a maximum, but the fuel flow limitation means the maximum we’re running, whether it’s a Ferrari, a Mercedes, or a Renault, is 12,000 and at the end of the straight it could be 10 or 11,000.