Racefans.net attributes the following information, in a longer piece about the Liberty/Teams meeting in Monaco, to an FOM insider source.
The suggestion is price control will be established on many more components from selected, and probably cheaper, sub-contract supply.
The real question is whether this is dumbing down or level playing field, I fear the latter.
There is, though seldom a meeting without a twist, and in this case it was prescriptive parts. These are not to be confused with listed and non-listed parts, to which teams are either required to hold the intellectual property (the former) and those they may source outside to suit their designs.
Prescriptive parts are non-performance-differentiating components which must be used by all teams, much as the halo is a prescriptive part sourced from an approved supplier. The urgency is that teams are informed which parts will appear on the prescriptive list to enable them plan their headcounts as soon as possible. While some of the targeted parts will have little effect on operations, others such as complete gear cassettes certainly will.
According to a source, in addition to gear clusters, the list is likely to include differentials, standardised front and rear hubs, brakes and possibly drive shafts and some form of standard active suspension system – last-named to aid set-up and tuning while cutting the costs of development.
The plan is to ensure that the list of prescriptive parts enables F1 to maintain performance differentiation while cutting costs without becoming a one-make series.
Courtesy Dieter Rencken on racefans.net, 30th May.