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F1 considers going back to future on gearboxes

F1 has opened applications to produce a standardised gearbox for all its teams to use between 2021 and 2024. This move would see teams run share a common design, made by one company rather than having various suppliers at play, with the main aim of lowering costs.

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The recent proposal for F1 teams to use standard gearbox internals may be a cost-saving measure but you could also say it's a throwback to the days when entire gearboxes were off-the-shelf components delivered to the workshop door.

When James Hunt won the World Championship in 1976, his McLaren M23 ran exactly the same Hewland FG400 gearbox as Lotus, Tyrrell and most of the leading contenders, the one exception being Ferrari with a unit that was not only of their own manufacture but also, uniquely, transverse.