The FIA has confirmed that its plans for an alternative engine for 2017 have been rejected by the F1 Commission.
Ferrari's decision to veto a planned €12 million cost cap on customer engines prompted the FIA to pursue a cheaper alternative in an attempt to balance the budgets for smaller teams. The current cost of a customer engine is believed to be in the region of €20 million.
The FIA has revealed there have been "four credible Expressions of Interest" from manufacturers about becoming the budget engine supplier. However, following separate meetings of the Strategy Group and F1 Commission in Paris on Tuesday, those plans have been shelved, with manufacturers promising instead to address four key areas around power unit supply.
Those four areas are:
Guarantee of the supply of power units to teams
The need to lower the cost of power units to customer teams
Simplification of the technical specification of the power units
Improved noise
The manufacturers will present a proposal by January 15, 2016 that will "seek to provide solutions to the above concerns". It will include the establishment of a minimum number of teams that a manufacturer must supply, ensuring all teams will have access to a power unit -- an issue which has been prominent this season with Red Bull and Toro Rosso yet to confirm an engine for 2016.
The FIA has confirmed it will meet with the current engine manufacturers to discuss this topic for the first time at this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The governing body says the budget engine solution "may be reassessed" once it has heard the proposal of the manufacturers next year.