Red Bull: Oil burn wrecking F1's green credentials

The issue of oil burn has been talked about all season, with the FIA working hard to clamp down on teams being able to get a power boost from it.

From the start of next year, teams will only be allowed to burn 0.6 litres of oil per 100 kilometres, but McLaren said over the Japanese Grand Prix weekend that it believed even this level was too high.

Now Horner, whose Renault engine partner is now believed to have exploited oil burn as much as Ferrari and Mercedes, has backed calls for more to be done.

He even went as far as questioning why F1 made such an effort to bring in turbo hybrids, if the engines need to then burn oil in an inefficient way.

“Burning 4kg of oil in a race, it’s almost a diesel engine,” said Horner. “It goes against what the concept of this eco-friendly hybrid formula is.

“I think the reality is it would be better to see it addressed properly, and take away the uncertainty.

“I know other teams are particularly upset about what they perceive as oil burning, particularly during qualifying.”

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier said he did not understand why the FIA did not get tougher on the oil burn situation – rather than give teams the current leeway.

“I know the FIA and Charlie [Whiting] are working very hard to try to close the loophole because there’s not a clear definition of oil in the FIA regulations, but I don’t know if it’s going to be enough.”

“We have to also clamp [down on] this oil consumption, which would be at the end closing the loophole for next year. I think the restriction may [need to] be a bit higher than it is planned to be today.”