Renault has unveiled the first images of the new V6 turbo engine that it believes will help attract fans back to Formula 1. The new 1.6-liter turbocharged unit has already run extensively on the dyno at Renault's Viry-Chatillon facilities, but will not have its track debut until the start of next year.
Renault Sport's F1 chief Jean-Michel Jalinier believes that the move to more economical, technologically advanced engines will prove to be a big boost for both car makers and the sport itself.
"It will be a better tool to communicate than the current V8 engine," he explained. "We can get some fans back to F1."
Renault's engine technical director Rob White also believes that the new power units will provide a good spectacle as well as being more relevant than the current V8 engines.
"F1 is still going to be very loud – it is still going to be a very violent event," he said. "You can see on the testbed that even with relatively slow shifts on a relatively low transient dyno, that gear shifts are rapid and violent. And the big, glowing red thing at the back of the engine in front of the gearbox [the Energy Recovery System] is also going to be a thing of some spectacle."