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Noise criticism 'complete nonsense' - Mosley

ESPN Staff
April 15, 2014 « Two titles 'not enough' for Alonso | Mercedes wary of rivals' progress »
Max Mosley has called on the FIA to "pay lip service" to Bernie Ecclestone © Sutton Images
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Max Mosley has gone a step further in his defence of the V6 turbos by calling on his FIA successor Jean Todt to ignore the "nonsense" criticism about the noise of the new engines.

Last week Mosley said F1 was missing an opportunity in how it was failing to explain the new engines to the public properly. In a further interview this week Mosley confessed the new formula is not perfect but is convinced criticism over the sounds of the engines will die down over time.

"What we've got now is not the ultimate - it should have been four cylinders ideally - but everything's a bit of a compromise," Mosley told Sky Sports News. "But it's completely the right way to go and the people who don't like it have got this thing about the noise. I think that's complete nonsense; people will get used to the noise."

Mosley urged Todt, who replaced him as FIA president, not to take the likes of Bernie Ecclestone's criticisms seriously.

"I think pretty much what Jean's doing, which is take no notice, or pay lip service to the discussion - 'Oh that's interesting Bernie' - but in the end take no notice, because there's nothing anybody can do. The regulations are fixed and nobody can change anything. If you try to change them, Mercedes will stop you and your own rules stop you.

"There's nothing to discuss until 2015 and arguably not even then because of the notice periods. So Jean can just, very gently, take the mickey."

Mosley, who was still FIA president when the governing body started looking at bringing in the new technology, reiterated his belief that F1 faced extinction if it did not embrace change.

"Apart from that [the noise], it's a really interesting technology and it's change. And the thing is that, in the end, Formula 1 depends on fashion - being fashionable - and the essence of fashion is change. If you don't have change then you just disappear.

"Those cars were becoming dinosaurs. And then the sponsors all have to answer to some sort of board about their green credentials. These cars are still very, very fast."

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