-why would any other engine supplier/manufacturer agree to limit himself by freezing development on the PU?XRayF1 wrote: ↑16 Oct 2020, 07:44Apologies, but why would any other engine supplier/manufacturer agree to limit himself by freezing development on the PU?
Thus handover a substantial advantage to RBR?
The FIA procedural approach to such a PU dev freeze is limited to two options for the 2022 season - and please correct me (gently ).
A. Change of rules due to safety reasons.
B. Change by all F1 Teams unanimously, but with an implementation lead time of 18 months (I vaguely recall that period).
(A) I can not see how this may be argued.
(B) Well ...
(1) I can see the development cost angle, but even Honda did not step out because of the actual costs for the F1 programme.
At least this was the consensus of the majority of this forum, inline to what Honda stated officially.
Ferrari will not limit itself due to what they lost last year (and they are the one constant in F1, so there is zero chance of them withdrawing from F1). Renault just saw what they are capable of and had their F1 programme revigorated by their management (Alpine!), and Mercedes with Hybrid Power is their current mainstream approach for their cars.
Additionally, all teams just signed the new 'Concorde Agreement' to 2026, if I recall correctly.
While there is an exit clause in this new agreement (Source: Marko), chances are rather high that the existing teams intend to stay until the end of the contracted period.
So, again, why would any team, manufacturer or client team alike, give up such a fundemental advantage?
(2) Additionally, even if the teams would consent, this unanimous vote would have to happen actually now (based on the 18 months I mentioned earlier) and I wonder why nobody in the press would not have heard anything about this by now. Or at least the intent to do so.
My personal opinion is that Marko is trying to pressure FIA to do something in order to give RBR a competitive PU.
And as there is much burned Earth between Renault and RBR, and Ferrari currently not having the best of PUs, this can only mean the Mercedes PU.
Preposterous?
That was my initial thought, then later I thought-
Honda for obvious reasons. They continue the F1 association and save wads of cash and free up the engineers they say they need.
Mercedes probably would not mind, they are sitting on top swinging their feet. No prob. save money and look at the next engine.
Renault, have a revamped engine in the pipeline, which they expect to challenge Merc. If Merc do not move forward and they do I suspect they would be happy.
Right, Ferrari. I had to work on this. They are aiming for a static target which will not run away from them by the time they get there.
They have been catching up this year, and with another year or development should expect to be back near the front.
They will not possibly have a 'small team STR' go to Mercedes and be in front of them.
If all goes wrong, they have an excuse. Not our fault, they stopped us developing this superb engine we have on the computer. It also gives them resources to work on the next generation engine.