It's not the Financial side that makes McLaren considering to quit, IMO. They have realised that, as an engine customer team, they have very little chance now to rejoin the winning circles, and return to their past glory. Their standing is going backwards year after year, and they cannot face the prospect of becoming a second rate team. So, it's better to quit F1 and look for another outlet for their sporting ambitions; GT, endurance and Le Mans perhaps?
Could be, I don't know. I don't have much faith in Zak Brown, but what about that chap they just recruited from Porsche?
Re: Zak-->neither do I. On the Porsche guy, he's gotta re-vamp the whole system which is gonna take a couple of years. It took 2 years for Honda with STR/RedBull to get to where they are at in 2019. [SMH] Fine, Honda 2015 & 2016 was a total learning curve for them but by 2017 Honda was no less where they started one has to ask was Honda completely to blame for their 2017 season. Mclaren is still stuck and we're into 2019.
Where is anyone going to get a 100Kg battery that will power an F1 car for 100 miles at F1 performance levels?
Wait, what now? Porsche as in the very successful LMP program Porsche? So... WEC is introducing a hyper-car class in 2020 (2021?) which would be well suited to the types of vehicles McLaren successfully makes as road going products. They are falling further and further behind in F1. Now they are threatening to walk away from F1 for the 2021 season and have recruited someone from Porsche who I'm guessing came from the LMP program? Gee... I wonder what they're planning.
They have put themselves in the position of being a customer team... they were defacto Honda Worksteam with their exclusive contract They are doing a lousy job considering their budget and resources, I wonder whether they can ever get back into the winners circle Williams and McLaren are the best examples that you can not buy anything for past glory and it shows that the heritage money is not a game changer
Stefan Johansson’s radical proposal to make F1 awesome again http://scuderiafans.com/former-ferrari-driver-stefan-johanssons-radical-proposal-make-f1-awesome/?fbclid=IwAR0E2YRqxR6m-Cu4SnCdsqjcLCPa0wBF-ch6c5M_3hTL4XNpH50U6c7SfZA
Im in. And can we get a car that looks pretty. They don't look bad... but in my opinion F1 is a luxury brand or really needs to move towards that (USA mentality maybe its different in Europe) but style and accesibility while remaining exclusive would be great. If you standardized some of the things like this article states you could focus more on the racing and the promotion. Right now you are focusing on engineering and grams and down force etc... which is awesome for car dorks like me. But... for anyone else... its boring. And then when the racing is boring on top... you are really stuck
I vote no. Actually, I vote: hell, no!! Standard downforce doesn´t mean standard drag, so big teams still would waste an absurd amount of money for those little gains. Standard monocoque and standard gearbox means standard pick up points, so almost standard suspension too. Standard wings (+standard monocoque) also means almost standard aero: they only can work in the engine cover, nose cone (barely, as the standard wing would leave less freedom) and floor (hey, why not standard floor too?, nobody sees it anyway, but they can see the wings and the monocoque). The standard sidepods would limit the freedom for packaging too. Too much standard. Too much Indycar. Ironically he doesn´t talk about standard engines (by coincidence the only not-standard thing in Indycar) but those are incredibly expensive in F1. Standard brakes woudn´t be too bad. They cost a lot and nobody cares much about brakes in a F1 car anyway. Also longer braking distances would help to overtaking. Yet, for some reason, nobody dares to talk about the elephant in the room: the promoters of the championship (Bernie, and now Liberty) are always looking for ways of changing everything but they NEVER EVER talk about a cut in their share.
The article is fine but not a single revelation. We’ve been debating these things for years right here on fchat.
F1’s trajectory to the abyss dramatically accelerated with the new hybrid era. The spectacle ended and people began losing interest at an even faster rate. Predetermined outcomes all but assured by the limitation on testing and development in those first two or three years put even more nails in the coffin Forget this standardized component nonsense. The Works Team concept is about the only thing F1 has left. It’s easy to turn around. Get rid of these 20mm PUs and allow an environment where F1 is once again about the pinnacle of Motorsport instead of the long arm of the car manufacturer’s marketing machine.
Indycar I lost count how many cars are withing .2 of each other, on a street track also (I've not watched the ovals and don't count them). In F1 there are a lot of cars which have right about the same performance but still (even with todays aero, which I admit improved things but still room for massive improvement) are struggling to get close to each other in racing conditions...purely because of the aero. In Indycar, drivers of the same capability are all driving extremely close together.
Standard gearbox....well as Stefan says most teams already buy one from big teams anyways, so their suspension is the same. I think a fair compromise is standard gearbox EXCEPT casing. Casing to be free so suspension pick up/geometry is therefore, free. Monocoque, the monocoque is the driver survival cell...well why not standardize it? Can still do a whole lot of stuff around it (where it matters). Wheelbase etc all free. Image Unavailable, Please Login As for the promoters, Liberty didn't just spend 9 billion to give it all away. You are right Stefan didn't talk much about the engines, but seems he wants to get rid of the hybrid **** also as it's basically fueled by political correctness. Simple fix? take all the hybrid and turbo off and glue the V6 together. Proper V12's, 15K rpm limit still, will sound great, produce the same amount of power. Fans happy, teams happy (cost), OEMs probably not but who cares about them.
+1 Will never and should never happen. F1 switiching to electric = death of F1. Not being dramatic. But 90% of it's fanbase will leave. A conservative figure.
That seems acceptable to me, leaving enough for the teams to work on to differentiate their cars. I doubt it Ferrari and Red Bull would accept that though: they want to be ... unique.
There will be casualties. I think the top 3 will be upset to say the least. Mercedes most likely to leave (based on engine), Ferrari to threaten but probably will not (it'll still be a huge money maker for them, if not more), Red Bull...huff and puff but ultimately will not. RBR will just buy an engine and slot it in, they're profitable and will remain to be and it's a huge marketing product for them. If STR is a financial drain it could be sold. But that's it really.
I doubt if sticking 2 V6 engines together would make a good V12. Remember the V12 Porsche engine put on a Footwork years ago? It was made of 2 V6 Porsche cobbled together, and it was a disaster. V12 have to be purposely designed, IMO. Also, I know a lot of people here want a return of the V10/V12 atmo engine for sound effect, but these engines are generally not good for stress-bearing. That would complicate the chassis design, IMO. That's why compact V8, or V6 are preferable.
You see, I think Mercedes would be the less reluctant to endorse a mandatory chassis: their stregth is in engine, organisation and development. For Ferrari, they are about uniqueness more then anything (in victory and in defeat), and I cannot see them ever accepting what would be some form of standardisation. As for Red Bull, they have constantly built what are believed to be Superior cars, and a mandatory chassis would take away in one stroke of a pen their traditional advantage. So, the standard monocoque would be a hard sale, I believe.
I think ICE F1 and FE can cohabit. They are different technologies, attracting different audiences. FE would have to improve a lot before it can match F1, IMO.
Don't take my post very seriously. V10s did alright...back in 1999 I believe Ferrari was actually working on a new V12 until the rules said you had to be V10 so the project was shelved. I know the engine has to be designed proper and simply welding two together is rather ****, especially if you go from turbo to NA. A larger, 3.5 to 4 liter V10/12 direct injection with a fixed angle, fixed materials, fixed weight, fixed rev limit will be both affordable and the vast majority of fans will love it. It'll bring some much needed theater back to F1. Basically the same formula we had with the V8s, where in my opinion it was great as there wasn't a single engine that stood out from the rest. Mercedes had great drivability, Renault was most fuel efficient and Ferrari seemed to have the peak power. A complete V8 was 200K and had to last 2 races....I think with current tech and some inflation a 300K price tag for a V10/12 that lasts 4 races is doable. The engine won't wear much (due to rev limit) so performance not affected massively. If we look back on the F93a, the engine produced some 750bhp and revved to 14K rpm...forward 25 years 1000hp is a conservative target I believe.
