dren wrote: ↑12 Jul 2017, 12:54
I understand the team owners want the team to be competitive, but they have to have operating funds flowing in from somewhere.
Sauber's ultimate backer appears to me to be Hans Rausing, who isn't short of a few billion Euros.
Sauber may be looking at what's happening with Honda's current form and considering the economic impact of running a very uncompetitive engine for a few seasons versus a known quantity with Ferrari who will typically be either leading or almost leading.
It is also not impossible that the Honda/Sauber deal might sour from the other side - because Honda have decided to put all their money into the McLaren deal. If Honda have a budget of say "100 units" to run Mclaren at the moment, running two teams would mean taking some units out of the McLaren deal to run Sauber. To run both teams would require, say, "125 units", which will not be available to HRD without Honda Corporate signing it off. They may decide instead to double-down, put all their resources into one team and development of just the PU for McLaren instead of trying to split the resources and ending up ultimately with a larger number of less well developed PUs than they currently have.
It only makes sense to have two or more teams if you have the resources to develop for all of them.
Another angle is that it's also possible that Ferrari want 3 Ferrari powered cars on the grid for political leverage reasons and may have made Sauber an offer they can't refuse, economically.
Think on this for a moment - for the new engine 2021+ engine formula, if you were Ferrari, would you want 3 votes (or proxies) against Renaults 3 and Mercedes 3, and Honda's 1, or would you like only the same voting power as Honda, with just two teams apiece - in which case Mercedes and Renault are effectively in charge of the new formula?
I believe the following:
Ferrari/Haas/Sauber all vote as one at the moment (because Ferrari have agreements).
Mercedes/Williams/Force India all vote as one (because Mercedes have agreements).
Renault/RBR/STR may all vote as one at the moment, if it suits RBR to do so, which it typically will.
Honda has no power to effect change at the moment, because mathematically they are isolated in this way.
If Sauber did move to Honda, Ferrari's voting power is diminished to 2, Hondas is increased to 2, and both Honda/Ferrari are relegated to second-tier by the voting mathematics (2 each versus 3 of the others).
Honda's best shot at effecting changes to the rules that Honda can gain competitiveness via, is by having both teams, and putting the additional resources in to make it work.
What do you guys think?