While that's possible, I believe that I do understand that the FIA fuel flow regulations have limited engines DESIGNED to exceed 15K rpms down to 10K rpms. Think about that for a second. The engines are maxing out at 67% of the rpm limit that they were DESIGNED for.
Exactly. While I can still greatly enjoy the racing (and I am), it's rather obvious to me that it was a waste of engineering resources to design engines capable of running (reliably) at a 15k rpm limit (not a redline), and then throttle them back to 10k rpms because of a fuel flow limit. F1 is about designing components that can perform at an optimal level before they break. These aren't passenger car engines. Why waste money designing something that's only going to be allowed to operate at 67% of its (supposedly) mandated limit?
The engines are substantially less powerful than the previous 2.4 V8s. I've seen estimates that ranged from 550-600 for the 1.5 turbos vs. 750 +/- for the V8s. The total output from the power-unit is in the same ball park, depending on which manufacturer is being looked at.