STR future?

[gcdugas]

OK, Mateschitz has promised to fund STR through 2009 but is looking for a buyer. Will such a buyer still get the Newey chassis? Will Williams turn up the heat on the FIA regarding customer chassis? Will Mateschitz reconsider? Is STR really better than RBR or is DC just a dud? Webber seems to stack up fine against the STR cars. If Webber had an equal teammate then I doubt we would be hearing all this stuff about the engines.

Personally I think that 100% of the improvement at STR has come from Giorgio Ascanelli. When Frank Derne returned to Williams mid-season 2003 almost instantly the car became a winner. And now look at what impact Derne is having at Toyota. There is something to be said for sage intuitive veterans. There is now short cut to wisdom and all the computers in the world can't compute you into being wise. Giorgio Ascanelli goes way back and was Berger's race engineer and Senna's too. He worked at Ferrari, Benetton and McLaren. I think the guy knows a few things.

But back to STR. What does the future hold? What can the next buyer expect to get? And who will drive in 2009? Pantano?

[gcdugas]

Same questions asked here along with some answers.

[Conceptual]

Schumacher should buy the other 50% of STR, and hire Alonso to drive the vacant seat left by Vettel.

If the Italian based STR is tied to the Italian SFM with engines, I can see some "co-development" work happening. Maybe Ferrari can "source" a few Carbon Fibre molds to the Schumacher/Berger owned STR, heck, just buying a survival cell + engine would be great.

Dreams don't always come true, however...

[gcdugas]

I am sure that SFM would just roll over and let STR win races and championships too!

[Conceptual]

I am sure that SFM would just roll over and let STR win races and championships too!

No, but to have a competitor on that level that shares info with you is much more valuable to a team that is just as competitive, but doesnt share information.

If STR were owned by Berger/Schumacher, and running Ferrari engines, I can easily see there being more comradarie than contempt. After all, I'm sure that Ferrari would rather lose to STR than McLaren, since they would still be winners!

[donskar]

Maybe Mateschitz should sell RBR and keep STR

Seriously, Adrian Newey has the two key skills required of a top-level F1 designer:
1) aero genius
2) ability to interpret/manipulate the rules

Add a very good young driver, an excellent engine and a good infrastructure with a good budget and what could be lacking?

How ironic that moving from the "B" to the "A" team might be a step down for Vettel!

[WhiteBlue]

Briatore and Mateschitz will continue to make a stink about the loop holes in the engine freeze until the FIA will do something to bring the performance together next year. Perhaps they use the standard ECU to equalise engine performance. That would not be impossible. All that the exploit of the loop holes accomplished is a huge budget increase at Renault next year. If Red Bull cannot equalize the engine performance they will go to another supplier.

STR's future will depend off the customer car regulations. If the ban goes ahead as planned Berger will have to find an investor who will put up the budget. This is certainly helped by the success they have this year. It is difficult to imagine though that they will be able to design a top class chassis themselves for 2010 on the level of the Newey chassis.

[mx_tifoso]

All that the exploit of the loop holes accomplished is a huge budget increase at Renault next year.

Who knows if what Briatore said is even true, maybe it's just hot air to get their [Renault's] competitors thinking about what challenge they could bring about next season. And maybe that budget increase is simply to meet Alonso's salary demands!

So far, who are realistic and probable buyers/investors for STR?

[WhiteBlue]

I have said it many times. STR need a brand that wants to drive a global campaign for a consumer product and is convinced that F1 is better value than advertising. for such a brand ownership makes sense. The trick is to identify a brand that is disgruntled with other players and wants to spend on that scale for many years. This is not about a one time investment. It is about funding a budget year after year as Red Bull, Ferrari, BMW, Toyota, Honda or Mercedes do. We are talking 100-200 mil € anually.

The last thing STR needs is an investor who wants to race with other people's money. They have Berger who can do that very well as he has shown.

[Conceptual]

... Enter Sir Richard Branson, with his uber-cash and world wide Virgin brand.

And I bet that Scaled Composites would be a very likely design/build candidate, considering the close relationship that is established with the Space Ship One/Two projects.

But, of course, this is only speculative dreaming, so who knows?

[flynfrog]

... Enter Sir Richard Branson, with his uber-cash and world wide Virgin brand.

And I bet that Scaled Composites would be a very likely design/build candidate, considering the close relationship that is established with the Space Ship One/Two projects.

But, of course, this is only speculative dreaming, so who knows?

scaled isnt the cute little shop it once was.
Although the thought of a rutan designed wing package makes me excited

[gcdugas]

Surely by now Budweiser is getting sick of that little 5 inch x 12 inch patch that Williams used to run. The question is, who other than Americans would buy that piss for beer? So there goes any global marketing effort. Otherwise they certainly have the dosh to do it.

They paid 16M Euros for that per year.