Series bosses agree cost cut plan

The world's three major Formula 3 championships have joined forces in an attempt to control costs in the category and balance the technical regulations across the three series.

Bosses of the British, European and Japanese championships met in Macau in November and again in Frankfurt in December to discuss plans to introduce constraints on the use of parts such as brakes and transmission in the category to prevent costs from increasing unnecessarily.

Peter Briggs, who represents British F3 teams' association FOTA, believes that unity between the three series is vital to the strength of the category.

"The aim is to ensure that Formula 3 stays as it is. We're not taking anything away, we don't want to stop the teams from modifying, changing and adapting their cars - it's a hugely important part of F3 that drivers and engineers can learn to do that at a junior level," he told autosport.com.

"We're just trying to stop the things that won't affect the overall package, except to increase the costs. We would far rather decide on this ourselves now, than wait for the FIA to have to do it for us.

"For example, if one team introduces new brakes with a major performance increase, but much more expensive, everyone else has to get them to keep up. But if everyone has them, the only difference in the package is the cost. The first step will be transmission controls but there are a number of areas to look at."

Briggs says that the controls will also help the three championships to be more equal for the international F3 events.

"There is a very good chance that we will have the three series agree on things," he said. "It's good that the three main championships are all talking together with the same aims, and it will be good for events like Macau and the Masters to have everyone on common technical ground."

Communication key to Dynamo success

Real won’t sit back with chance to advance