The FIA has confirmed that Cosworth has won the tender launched as part of its plans to cut costs in the sport.
FIA president presses for cost reductions after Honda exit
The FIA has confirmed that Cosworth has won the tender Formula One's governing body recently launched as part of its plans to cut costs in the sport.
A standard engine was one option FIA president Max Mosley proposed when cost-cutting moved back to the top of the agenda in the wake of the ongoing global financial crisis.
That crisis has now hit F1, with Honda announcing their withdrawal from the sport on Friday with immediate effect.
Mosley has moved quickly by writing to members of the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) outlining how the deal with the Northampton engine supplier can shore up the future of independent teams.
In the letter, Mosley says that the deal means that such teams would be able to pay less than £6 million from 2010 for an annual supply of engines and transmissions.
And, with the likes of Ferrari having threatened to withdraw should a standard engine come to pass, he has also stressed that manufacturers will not be forced to run them.
"We have completed the tendering process and are now in exclusive negotiations with Cosworth together with Xtrac and Ricardo Transmissions (XR) to supply a complete Formula One power train starting in 2010," Mosley said in the letter.
"The engine will be a current Formula One engine while the transmission will be state-of-the-art Formula One and a joint effort by two companies which already supply transmissions to most of the grid."
Deal
Assuming four teams sign up, Mosley says the deal will cost them £5.49m (€6.42m) per season, including an initial payment of £1.68m (€1.97m).
If more teams sign up, then the cost would be reduced further.
Should teams elect to build their own engine then they would face one of two options: building an identical unit themselves or continuing to use their existing engine "with the current ban on development and requirement for engine parity still in place".
However, regardless of which route teams might wish to take, they would all have to use the standard transmission.
The FIA said that teams who might intend to use the standard F1 engine as of 2010 have until close of business on December 11 to notify them.
Speaking later on Friday, Mosley said that Honda's withdrawal might not be the only such without reduced costs.
"I have to say it was not entirely unexpected," he said.
"I've been expecting one of the major manufacturers to stop for some time because even before the current situation the costs were completely out of control.
"And now I think its difficult to imagine how any manufacturer could stay in unless we make really substantial reductions in cost."
He added: "Much more needs to be done for 2010. We've got to get the costs down, not by 10 or 20 percent but down to 10 or 20 percent of what they are now."
Cost-cutting measures have already been agreed for 2009, including increasing engine life from two to three races.
However,
autsport.com reported on Thursday that a FOTA meeting in London had agreed further measures for both 2009 and 2010.
FOTA are also looking to ward off the threat of a standard engine by drawing up their own plans for a new low-cost engine formula by 2011.
