Prodrive-Mclaren talks collapse

Prodrive's negotiations with McLaren-Mercedes for a partnership in next year's Formula One World Championship have collapsed, autosport.com has learned.

Prodrive have been pursuing a deal with the Woking-based outfit for a supply of customer cars, and just a few weeks ago Prodrive boss David Richards said the only hurdle left to overcome in the negotiations is the new Concorde Agreement.

However, sources have told autosport.com that McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh notified his staff yesterday that the team are no longer pressing ahead with their plans for a partnership with Prodrive.

Neither McLaren nor Prodrive would comment on the matter.

It is not clear yet why the negotiations fell through. Nevertheless, it comes just days after the FIA announced Prodrive will face a Court of Appeal hearing later this month over their entry, following legal questions from rivals Williams.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis said at last weekend's Chinese Grand Prix that the team had not signed a deal with Prodrive, and could not do so without complete clarity over their entry.

"We have not entered into any contract with any team at this moment of time," he said. "If a team wishes to enter the 2008 World Championship and that team does not have complete clarity as to whether it is or is not permitted to enter then it is a matter for that team and certainly not for McLaren."

As recently as the Belgian Grand Prix, Richards revealed that a deal for car and engines had been agreed - although he never named McLaren specifically.

"We are there, but there are lots of issues surrounding the validity of the Concorde Agreement," Richards told autosport.com about the progress with his team.

"It is those sorts of things that leave question marks at the moment, and they need to be resolved. Every other aspect of it is cleared up."

Despite Whitmarsh's statement, Prodrive sources insist that they have not yet completely given up on reviving the McLaren deal.

Should that not be possible, however, then Prodrive may still have opportunities elsewhere - with Renault having been favourites for a supply deal at one point.

In an interview with the Times newspaper in August, Richards said that McLaren were one of three teams that Prodrive were speaking to at the time.

 

OK, so ProDrive gets approved and goes with Renault. Alonso ends up there or switches places with Fischy. Convenient.

 

As long as Alonso isn't in a red car creatin' chaos in my team, I'm ok with where ever he may go.

That being said, I hope ProDrive finds a supplier for next year. I would like to see them do well.

 

Prodrive really isn't fair for teams like STR, Spyker, SA, and Honda working their butts off developing a new car and the rich man with the big paycheck can just buy the car, kinda defeats the purpose of constructors. If Toyota was smart, they'd stop making cars and just buy Ferraris.

 

What's really sad is companies like Toyota and Honda have budgets many times larger than Ferrari, and they still run midfield at best.

 

Matt, Toyota definately has a larger budget, but I doubt Honda does. I think they just don't get it.

 

I'd be shocked if they didn't, but I haven't seen the numbers.

 

I read that Toyota's budget was the largest followed by McLaren and Ferrari.

 

You won't get an argument from me. I just think it's amazing that a major manufacturer would jump into F1 without all the money they could spare.

 

Your right about that, the one that got me was what a blunder FORD did when they rebadged Stewart Grand Prix as Jaguar, and the American Executives who found out what Eddie Irvine was getting paid, "Who the Fck is this Eddie Irvin!"

 

I don't think any US company could get into F1 now, with the cashflow issues they have.

 

Actually, there's still a pending hearing over STR and SA, for using off the shelf RBR and Honda cars, instead of building their own.

(I wonder how much FIA politics were involved in the Japan 25 sec Vettel penalty that gave Spyker (Sutil) a point before STR got one (or eight). Or was this yet another amazing coincidence of the sort that's been around FIA all year?)

 

Plus they wouldn't want to give up their NASCAR.

 

<shudder>

HATE Nascrap. I used to work for Summit Racing, doing phone sales. Sundays during Nascrap season were the most evil days of the year. I would sit there doing nothing for 20 minutes, then 5 minutes of 50 calls in queue due to a commercial break, then nothing. Rinse, repeat. I sold maybe 1/4 of what I did on a weekday. Hate Nascrap.

 

if i were toyota, shut down their team operations, and pump whatever money needed to Williams and support them 100%. kinda like Bemmer-Williams those days.

 

100% in agreement Brian.

 

I think they would be nuts to do that.

Don't forget guys that the cost of running the team is not the ding to the bottom line of the team owners. You musn't forget to subtract out sponsorship monies and TV/other money paid by FOM. So that $500mm budget of Toyota might only cost them $150mm a year, and I bet they get that much in advertising out of the sport.

Don't forget that not everyone can be top dog in F1. If we point to Toyota and say "they should do better!", that *must* come at the expense of someone else. If we say Honda and Toyota should do better, let's assume they should be in the top 5. Well there's Ferrari, McLaren, Honda, Toyota, BMW, Renault. So one of those has to be 6th - that means their drivers are running average around 12th place - not very good. They are not trying to hit a specific target, they are all chasing a moving target and it's about out-performing all the other guys who are doing their damndest to outperform you.

I admire Toyota for sticking in F1. Their time will come. They have gotten better than they were, and if they get rid of Ralf, they will be a lot better off. Trulli is pretty decent - they just need to keep moving onward and upward and get the talent to let them do that. If they play it right, then in 2-3 years they could be where McLaren is now, IMO. Same with Honda. It was not that many years back when it was BAR and they were pretty solidly running in 3rd place and looking to be a title contender the next year. For every one that moves up, someone moves down. They can't all win - Red Bull has come up, as has BMW (Sauber), Toyota and Renault in the past 5 years. Honda, Williams, and some others have fallen back.

I hope Toyota stays in F1 and keeps improving. F1 needs more teams with the heart to compete rather than these one-hit wonders that come and go like Arrows, Jag, Minardi and Jordan. Those teams just occupy the back and never improve. They are filler. I'd trade the backmarkers for Porsche, Cadillac, Audi and Hyundai any day!

 

I'd love to see Porsche in F1, as well as Lamborghini. There were some Lambo powered F1 cars in the early '90's, with Audi money I'm sure they could come back again.

 

Why would you be shocked if they had a lower budget than Ferrari?

 

don't forget, i think it was Ralf who got the highest finish for Toyoda this season. a 6th.

 

A Prodrive Renault with Alonso and Fisichella would be good as would a McLaren with Hamilton and Paffett or why not bring back the Hakk for a 12 month contract!!

 

They have the money to spend, most likely more so than Ferrari does. I would just find it very surprising if Honda spent less on F1 than Ferrari does, considering the size of the companies.

 

Has ProDrive announced their sponsorship yet? Perhaps they are having trouble securing the funds to pay for the McLaren deal?

 

but i recall Dave saying that he's had in all the bag and sponsorship wasn't a problem.