the EDGE wrote: ↑22 Jan 2021, 19:53
And as for Mercedes or Renault being happy? Are you serious? They spend millions on making their PU and are told well done lads, your reward is Ferrari can use more fuel/hour than you as they didn’t do a very good job. They will be furious not elated
Well, good for them!
Fans just want to see exciting racing and not a procession IMO. Manufacturers love BOP classes, as IMSA shows, as they are not bottomless money pits unlike other classes. If BOP attracts the likes of Porsche, Audi etc to F1 (as it has done with LMDh) surely that is a good thing!?
Mercedes could have avoid this political mess by supplying Red Bull Racing and dropping Williams for instance, then Red Bull Racing would have equal best power units and have nothing to advocate for [as Mercedes improvements in power unit would benefit Red Bull, so Red Bull would have no reason to object to Mercedes superiority], but they Mercedes have continually refused to do that (indeed they extended Williams and signed McLaren, instead of signing Red Bull, once Mercedes even signed Manor who couldn't even afford to pay for the power units instead of signing Red Bull
), so the political moves are what they are -- Red Bull are not going to support Mercedes' non-BOP political position, when Mercedes have never supported Red Bull's competitiveness by providing customer power units!
All fans want is for Ferrari, Renault, Red Bull - Honda and Mercedes to all have equally competitive power units, and if the BOP is the best way to achieve this, so be it. Such a homologation and balancing regulation works well in the V8 Supercar series, and has cut engine development costs dramatically.
Marko stirring the pot as usual:
“This is not blackmail. For reasons of reason and cost, an engine freeze is the only way with these unfortunate engines.”
https://www.speedcafe.com/2021/01/23/ma ... blackmail/