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Louder engines still a priority for F1 Strategy Group
Louder engines are still a priority for Formula One as it looks to improve the spectacle of grand prix racing over the coming years.
Despite an overhaul of the regulations last year, F1 chiefs spent the winter discussing plans to change the sport further in order to arrest a decline in global interest. New-look cars, different engines and bigger tyres have all been suggested in F1 Strategy Group meetings as ways of making the sport more appealing, but there will be no changes until 2017 at the earliest.
One criticism of the F1's new turbocharged V6 engines and high-tech energy recovery systems is a much quieter exhaust note, which was met with very mixed opinions last year. Plans to make the cars louder failed to gain traction in 2014, but Claire Williams, who represents Williams in the Strategy Group, said discussions are still ongoing.
"Conversations are focusing around changing the engine formula as it currently is in order to make it louder - which is what fans want - and changing technical regulations to make the cars more radical, more forward looking and more innovative. So those are the conversations that we're having, those are the areas that we're looking at and it's about improving what is already a great platform.
"If that drives more fans to watch our sport and engage with our sport and ensures the sustainability of our sport in to the long term then Williams is 100% behind those conversations."
However, Williams admitted F1 should be doing more to understand what fans want from the sport.
"As a group we probably need to do more research in to what our fans want and listen to what our fans do want before actually doing things that maybe the fans aren't interested in us changing because it's not going to have an impact on them. So it's really important that you have that two-way conversation rather than just pushing changes out for the sake of it."
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