My opinion: Ferrari: Would rather see McLaren crash and burn as a company than give them Ferrari engines, one less rival to worry about. The most competitive they will go with engines will be Sauber or Force India and no higher. Renault: Not with RBR about will they get Renault engines, they'll veto them out for payback in 09 with the Mercedes engines they were after. In short McLaren are screwed for a period down the line and I think that's the main reason why Lewis left them.
http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1...Honda-talk-and-says-focus-on-Mercedes-engines "What I can tell you is we have a contract with a long-standing partner, Mercedes-Benz, for 2013, 2014 and 2015," Whitmarsh said in an interview with Sky Sports F1's Natalie Pinkham.
Depends which side the option is on really. It might be that it's Mclaren's choice, Mercedes can't refuse. I suspect the contract was written when Mercedes didn't have a works team, so mercedes would have no reason not to supply. If it is this way around, they effectively have a contract, but one that's free for them to get our of should Honda come up with the goods.
That's the impression that the BBC seem to be taking. I'm fairly certain this contract was drawn up around the time Mercedes were at the very least considering a works team, draw your own conclusions.
I wonder how many teams Merc want to supply moving forward and if it would be a competitive edge for Mclaren to drop them at the last minute and switch.
I suppose it's less data for the Mercedes engineers to analyse, but I'd imagine the quality of the engines on offer would be the deciding factor.
I dont think Mclaren want to ditch Mercedes (or vice versa) because of the product. Its because the relationship has run its course. Mclaren cant go to Renault or Ferrari because they are the arch enemys.
I don't see it as that big a deal with the regulations as they are. Engines shouldn't be a performance differentiator while development is frozen, but if they're not a big performance differentiator it's seems wasteful to have many companies pumping hundreds of millions into them. If development was open (which it won't be because of cost saving) then it would be cool to have loads of manufacturers, but as it is if one team had a significant engine advantage they could take five world championships with one frozen design, it's better to have a few teams using the same engines. At least in 2014 if Mercedes, for example, nail the engine regs there'd still be a scrap between Merc and McLaren.
The thing is you see teams like Red Bull merc and Ferrari (obviously) getting prefferential treatment from their suppliers. If you had One sole supplier then who will get the best engineers supplied to them?
I guess the manufacturer would just supply the engines and the teams would recruit their own engineers. The teams all use the same tyres and ECU and it isn't a problem. Personally I hope in 2014 the engines are noticeably different but without one which is obviously better. For example one engine which is exceptionally powerful but guzzles fuel which will qualify well but be vulnerable during the race. I think the turbos and ERS could mean the engines behave a lot differently at different circuits, hopefully it will mix things up a bit without giving anyone a dominant advantage.
but I posted it here a day before you got it on the BBC. And even then I found it on another site "revelation"
Honda have been probably the most prolific global engine builders ever since they came into motor manufacturing, their F1 engines were incredibly reliable and powerful as has been proved by their winning statistics and in many guises including, F1, grassmower, car and utility power units. For Honda now to reunite with McLaren their old allies, is evidence of their positive view and vision of the future, its a brave decision to renter the spotlight world of F1, obviously with a view to succeed, failure is clearly not an option, bloody good luck to both McLaren and Honda. R.D. has obviously thought this through and not taken the Cosworth option, which incidentally I would have, which no doubt is why he's a millionaire and I'm not.
Has anyone read Benson's preview to this weekends grand prix? He claims that the BBC broke the 'revelation' that Honda would be providing Mclaren with engines. Revelation? It was on here ages before they wrote that!
please log in to view this image (Apparently memegenerator has crashed but eventually the one I created for this occasion will appear above this text. hopefully.)
Sorry guys, still can't believe that 2 days after "revealing" something, he hasn't bothered to see if other news outlets beat him to it.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/106086 Mercedes will move to ensure that McLaren's knowledge of its 2014 engine is of no benefit to Honda should the team subsequently switch to the Japanese engine manufacturer. McLaren is currently weighing up its long-term engine plans and is poised to commit to Honda for 2015 if the company feels it is the right time to return to Formula 1. Such a move would mean that McLaren would run Mercedes' new V6 turbo engines just for 2014. That opens up the possibility of its understanding of that power unit helping Honda's its efforts to get up to speed. Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff said in Australia on Saturday that a continued partnership with McLaren could not be ruled out, but that measures would be taken to ensure Honda gains no benefit from what happens in 2014. "It has always been our goal to work with McLaren as they are a reliable partner and even we would benefit from a collaboration with McLaren," said Wolff, when asked by AUTOSPORT to clarify the engine situation if Honda does join McLaren for 2015. "I am not sure it is completely done yet, so we are still negotiating with them and hoping for an extension beyond 2014. please log in to view this image "If we cannot get this commitment it is going to be essential for us to guarantee that there is no chance of IP [cross over]. "But we are all professional and it is about having the right contract and safeguarding technology transfer. So we are having a look at that. "At the moment I am trying to be optimistic and hoping for an extension of the contract." McLaren currently has options with Mercedes that means it can choose to remain with the German firm until the end of 2015. inShare1
