F1 Bernie Wants Standard Engines For 2010

[EnI]

I can see carmakers selling or closing down their teams if this decision stays in action.

What's the point of having Ferrari, Mercedes, BMW, Renault, Toyota teams with Cosworth engines?

From engineering point of view engine development is the most important factor for carmakers to enter F1.

With standardized outsourced engines, electronics, tyres - the only what's left for carmakers to develop is the chassis - and even this with many limitations & strict regulations. Same case with aerodynamics.

F1 - as the "king of motorsports" should be the most high-tech lab for carmakers.

I'm sure in the case of carmaker-led F1 turbo engines, hybrid drives, active suspenssion, active aerodynamics, super-tech electronics etc would be allowed. And most of solutions would soon be offered in some production vehicles.

So, Bernie wants to make F1 to be Formula Bernie - analog to formula BMW, or Formula Mercedes etc - same cars, different drivers. Boring.

 

[modena_360stradale]

I can see carmakers selling or closing down their teams if this decision stays in action.

What's the point of having Ferrari, Mercedes, BMW, Renault, Toyota teams with Cosworth engines?

From engineering point of view engine development is the most important factor for carmakers to enter F1.

With standardized outsourced engines, electronics, tyres - the only what's left for carmakers to develop is the chassis - and even this with many limitations & strict regulations. Same case with aerodynamics.

F1 - as the "king of motorsports" should be the most high-tech lab for carmakers.

I'm sure in the case of carmaker-led F1 turbo engines, hybrid drives, active suspenssion, active aerodynamics, super-tech electronics etc would be allowed. And most of solutions would soon be offered in some production vehicles.

So, Bernie wants to make F1 to be Formula Bernie - analog to formula BMW, or Formula Mercedes etc - same cars, different drivers. Boring.

 

[Bartek S.]

Cosworth wins FIA standard engine tender for 2010

PRESS RELEASE

The announcement of Honda's intended withdrawal from Formula One has confirmed the FIA's longstanding concern that the cost of competing in the World Championship is unsustainable.

In the FIA's view, the global economic downturn has only exacerbated an already critical situation.

As the guardians of the sport, the FIA is committed to working with the commercial rights holder and the remaining members of FOTA to ensure that Formula One becomes financially sustainable.

The FIA President has today sent the attached letter to all of the Formula One teams:

Further to my letter of 18 November, we have completed the tendering process and are now in exclusive negotiations with Cosworth together with Xtrac and Ricardo Transmissions 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 €1.97 million Euros and then €6.42 million Euros per season for each of the three years of the supply contract.

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 €5.84 million Euro 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.

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 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 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

 

[LaArtist]

So this means that they will supply engines for those who want them
and cant afford to make their own ?

 

[Imhotep Evil]

Here's what autoextremist had to say about it:

...
Ecclestone said fans don't care how many cylinders the car has or the capacity of the engine - they just want entertainment on the track. This is rich. Ecclestone suggesting that somehow it was the manufacturers' fault that the costs of F1 has spiraled out of control (for the record Honda was spending $294 - $300 million annually, while Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz are spending $400 million).
This after Ecclestone (with Mosley's acquiescence) has repeatedly escalated promotional fees, sponsorship fees, television rights fees and other money-generating scams and schemes that have pushed F1 to the brink.
For these two carpetbaggers to suggest that they were utterly blameless in all of this and that it was the auto manufacturers - the very lifeblood of the sport itself - who are to blame is completely ludicrous. The Bernie and Max show has been based on a foundation of unbridled greed since they took over the sport. Their constant drive for new streams of revenue, new venues that would blindly pay the outrageous fees demanded, and new corporations who could be duped into spending untold sums of money to be a part of the F1 circus knew no bounds. I hope that Honda pulling out of F1 is the beginning of the end for this sport as we know it, because F1 has been corroded and corrupted by p**s-poor management and the emphasis on greed for greed's sake for far too long. Honda has fired just the first shot in this battle. The real war is only beginning.

- PMD

And:

Racing has lost its mojo, period.
The classic, time-honored quest of developing advanced technologies by pushing the envelope has been overwhelmed by a kaleidoscope of limitations that seem to get more oppressive at every juncture.
Racing has actually devolved because of its addiction to limitations and regulations, with this relentless obsession to "level the playing field" resulting in motorized boredom, frankly, and it's absolutely killing the sport.
...
Until then racing will be stuck in this holding pattern of same-old, we've always done it this way, it's all about the show, commonality is bliss mediocrity.

I couldn't have put it better.

 

[siko]

My official stance...


Well considering European slotted races air at 7:50 am in my time zone... I won't be bothering to get up on a Sunday for that.

Well considering most other races (Asian, Australia, etc.) are around 2 to 4 am in my time zone... I won't be bothering to stay up that late to watch them!

So i guess this leaves my home race... so I will bother to only watch the Canadian GP in 2009!

... oh wait, there will not be a Canadian GP anymore!



Thank you Max and Bernie for killing F1 for me.

 

[Bartek S.]

My official stance...


Well considering European slotted races air at 7:50 am in my time zone... I won't be bothering to get up on a Sunday for that.

Well considering most other races (Asian, Australia, etc.) are around 2 to 4 am in my time zone... I won't be bothering to stay up that late to watch them!

So i guess this leaves my home race... so I will bother to only watch the Canadian GP in 2009!

... oh wait, there will not be a Canadian GP anymore!



Thank you Max and Bernie for killing F1 for me.

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