Ironically, in a perfect world, it would be the poorer teams at the back that it benefitted. The purpose of the engine freeze was to stop the title turning into an engine formula where Ferrari and Mercedes threw crazy money at their engines (a luxury not afforded to the lower teams), which kind of goes against the cost-cutting agenda we've got going at the minute. Right now it obviously benefits whoever's on top, though. Re: Smithers, you are correct - According to a poster on NeoGAF, thus far this season:
I bet these teams spend a fortune on lawyers. All this changes seem to have made the engines less reliable and probably cost more
Back when we were under the last engine freeze I think it was estimated Mercedes had found an extra 30-40bhp from all the changes they kept making for "reliability", whilst teams like Renault and especially Honda were far more honest and suffered as a result. Remember Honda in 2007/2008? Yeah, neither do I.
I cant see how lifting the engine freeze is viable without enforcing a budget cap. You know if it was lifted they would develop the **** out of it spending millions and end up bankrupt and forcing customers to go bankrupt.
Renault, honest!!? Are you having a giraffe? Look at all the 'reliability' changes they made with RBR to make sure they got more power. They moaned they're arses off, but conveniently overlook that the Renault had better torque and fuel consumption than the others that made up for the slight power deficit they had. As for removing the engine freeze, anyone considered that Mercedes may be able to improve on their engine as well, so could still be miles out in front?
It was more Honda, the way that their engine lagged behind everyone else's was one of the main reasons for their struggles and their leaving F1. I think Renault have closed up to Mercedes a bit, though it's difficult to tell given the Red Bulls ran high-downforce setups at Spa. Depends. In theory, engine development should plateau at the point where Mercedes get very little extra performance for the amount of money they spend, which will allow the other constructors to close up. This would be helped by the introduction of a budget cap on engine development.
@f1fanatic_co_uk: Big changes at Ferrari according to Motorsport Total: Marchionne to replace Montezemolo, Brawn to replace Mattiacci: http://t.co/lqLaJLF4xQ
According to Bend it Like Benson on BBC: MERCEDES MAY CONSIDER CHANGING DRIVER LINEUP http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/29067962 Mercedes say they will have to consider dropping Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg if the pair cannot race together cleanly. The ultimatum from Mercedes sports boss Toto Wolff comes in the aftermath of the drivers' collision in Belgium. The team have made it clear before this weekend's Italian Grand Prix that there must be no more on-track contact. "We would have to take decisions and take the consequences of having a different line-up," said Wolff. Play media Jump media playerMedia player helpOut of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue. Rosberg clips Hamilton in Belgian GP "If we are not able to manage the two of them following the Mercedes-Benz spirit then we need to admit that," added Wolff. Mercedes have taken disciplinary action against Rosberg for the collision at Spa on 24 August, for which the German has taken responsibility and apologised. The collision caused a puncture in Hamilton's car and forced him to retire, and Rosberg subsequently opened up a 29-point advantage over his team-mate in the championship. Wolff, speaking in an exclusive interview with BBC Radio 5 live , refused to give details of the internal action taken against Rosberg. Wolff said: "When you are managing a team it is very important to keep it balanced. I would very much like the penalties we have been implementing to stay within the team because it is just not fair on the driver to discuss that in public. "We have made it very clear this is an unacceptable scenario for us, for both of them. We don't want this to happen ever again." Meanwhile, Hamilton has queried the FIA's decision not to investigate the collision with Rosberg. The governing body decided not to look at the incident again despite it emerging after the race that Rosberg had told his team he had known the two could crash. Hamilton said: "Can we race a lot closer and if the other guy is out of the race nothing will happen? Or if it happens again will there be a penalty? "We are always asking to be able to race. But there is a fine line."
Could it? Could that really happen? EDIT: According to Ted and whoever Sky get to commentate FP1, Hulkenberg apparently had discussion with Mclaren earlier this year, but is currently expecting to race for Force India again next season.
Honda were (allegedly) playing silly buggers by then (a reason that McLaren next year should be very afraid, they are a very conservative company). They knew their engine was a little down on power and were more concerned about not being seen to go bang than pushing more power out of it, There are stories going around from ex BAR and Honda employees that they actually turned the engine DOWN and were approximately 100-130bhp down on the top teams, much to the anger of the team who begged them to turn the engine up to what it was capable of, but they refused. The cars themselves were apparently not that bad, it was the engine that was the issue in making them dog slow. Which, given Honda then gave up, Ross Brawn took the team on, slapped a Merc engine in the back at short notice and won a world title, suggests there is something in that story.
More 2016. But Haas F1 have secured a deal with Ferrari. Considering merc already have 4 teams, Renault are supplying Forza then it's fairly obvious
The man backing Forza is a principal importer of Ferrari cars, isn't he? Don't know if things changed behind the scenes but I also caught this article from June: http://www.independent.ie/sport/oth...dge-20m-bond-to-guarantee-entry-30326271.html At this rate I'm tempted to say there's more chance that Stefan GP might finally get on the grid than these guys
Lots of press journalists reporting Di Montezemelo is going to step down at Ferrari - official announcement expected Tuesday. Ross Brawn is expected to return as Team Principal, although some have said Ferrari are also speaking to Briatore (!) Silly season in full flow, mostly based on a report that Hamilton may have to take a pay cut to stay at Mercedes (who are now paying Rosberg £40m a year, apparently) - current fun is Alonso is set to swap seats with Hamilton.
I believe Jacques Villeneuve is still sitting in a Stefan GP car inside a freight container in Bahrain since 2010
I get the impression that theres to many people up themselves at Ferrari and so they can't admit they've got it wrong and make major changes.
They just don't learn from their previous mistakes. So if Brawn goes to Ferrari, Alonso back to Macca, then Hamilton to Ferrari too???
WILLIAMS RACING @WilliamsRacing · 6m We are pleased to announce that @MassaFelipe19 @ValtteriBottas will be continuing as our Race Drivers for 2015!
