Red Bull Racing
Cosworth Back in F1 as FIA Engine Supplier?
By Ian Lockwood
December 5 2008
In the wake of Honda''s announcement to withdraw from F1, Max Mosely has written to all F1 teams advising them of the proposed option to use a standard Cosworth supplied engine and XR transmission from 2010 onwards. The cost of the package is £1.68m and £5.49m per season over three years based on 4 teams taking up the offer. teams have until Thursday 11th December to decide.
Letter from Max Mosley, FIA President, to all F1 team principals
Gentlemen
Further to my letter of 18 November (copy attached for convenience), we have completed the tendering process and are now in exclusive negotiations with Cosworth together with Xtrac and Ricardo Transmissions (XR) to supply a complete Formula One power train starting in 2010. The engine will be a current Formula One engine while the transmission will be state-of-the-art Formula One and a joint effort by two companies which already supply transmissions to most of the grid.
The cost to each team taking up this option will be an up-front payment of £1.68M (€1.97M) and then £5.49M (€6.42M) per season for each of the three years of the supply contract (2010, 2011, 2012). This price is based on four teams signing up and includes full technical support at all races and official tests, plus 30,000 km of testing. The annual cost will reduce if more teams take up the option, for example to £4.99M (€5.84M) per team with eight teams. It will further reduce if less than 30,000 km of testing is required. Neither engine nor transmission will be badged.
As suggested in my letter of 18 November, teams participating in the 2010 Championship would
then have three options:
- the above;
- the right to build an engine themselves, identical to the above, having been supplied with
all the necessary technical information; - the right to continue to use their existing engine, with the current ban on development and
requirement for engine parity still in place (noting that the engine supplied will become the
reference engine for output and other performance indicators and no engine will be
permitted to exceed those indicators).
Teams opting for one of the latter two options would nevertheless use the XR transmission. In combination with the programme of cost reductions for the chassis, race weekend and team home base outlined in my letter of 18 November, these arrangements have a number of advantages. These include:
- enabling the independent teams to survive in the current difficult economic climate;
- facilitating the replacement of a manufacturer team if (as seems likely) we suffer additional
losses; - stabilising Formula One while new road-relevant technologies are introduced together with
a state-of-the-art high tech engine, which could be in Formula One as early as 2013
should the car industry by then be in a position to fund its development; - avoiding any change to the Formula One spectacle and keeping the technology at current
levels.
These arrangements are on the basis that at least four teams enter into contracts to use the power train described above, and do so no later than close of business (5pm CET) on Thursday 11 December 2008. In the event of fewer than four teams signing up, the FIA may still proceed but the price on offer will vary. The supply contracts will be with Cosworth but in the first instance teams are requested to make their intentions known to my office.
Yours sincerely
Max Mosley
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www.racingbulls.net
"facilitating the replacement of a manufacturer team if (as seems likely) we suffer additional
losses"
Who else is on the verge of pulling the pin?
&
Would this solution help them to stay?
Quote:Duffer
Time line pressure is applied to have team do something they might regret. This doesn't seem to be the solution imo...
I think it's a tough call at the moment - although it's probably the way to go for the forseeable future. But if you happen to own two teams, it's easier to be at least half right.
Then again, the future of STR is clouded, so it really only leaves one team that might take it up at this time. The fate of the Honda replacement, if any, won't be known by next Thursday that's for sure.
No idea what response Max expects.
If that quartet take up the offer it forces the others to build and engine to exactly the same spec or be limited to the performance outputs of it.
Given everyone will use a standard transmission, it probably makes sense - at least for the "independants" to use the engine that has been specifically designed to work with the standard transmission.
www.racingbulls.net
Ferrari 2-3 (Ferrari, STR & Rebadge Honda?)
Merc 2 (Mclaren & FiF1)
Renault 2 (Renault,RBR)
Toyota 2 (Toyota, Williams)
BMW 1( BMW).
So if no other teams collapse (unlikely)
Red Bull, Williams, F1f1 & STR would be the four teams using cosworth power, and possibly Old Honda.
More likely for the 2010 season, Toyota Pulls out, Williams can not get sponsorship and collapses and STR closes doors.
So we have Ferrari, Mclaren, BMW, Renault, Red Bull & Fif1. Only Six teams and if they force some teams to run three cars it will just force them out too. Renault is no certainty either. I think Williams will go but almost even money between Toyota and Renault. I think if they start the season and do not perform where they hoped i would not be suprised to see a mid season withdrawl
Why do i see Williams closing and not Red Bull, well Williams normally depends on some money coming from some financial/Insurance sector.....and with Red Bull if we all need to work long hours to pay the bills, a Red Bull will come in handy
Also the economic climate and the new regs are both getting Car Manafacturers to look closely at the financial benefits to running a F1 team.
Yes everyone needs to see how money can be better spent, but reducing the effectiveness of Car Manafacturer brand recognition it is more likely to push them out completely.
