Desperate times require desperate measures....

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/opinion-f1-mclaren-alfa-romeo-919226/

Fascinating.....

 

We would have to be desperate to help mclaren, the old man would turn in his grave

 

It will have to depend on the entirely on FIA's decision making. It could likely happened seeing as Ferrari happens to power two teams in 2018 itself and Haas. Sauber is dropping their partnership for Honda's in 2018 making it 2 for Ferrari 1 less this year; that is less than both Renault and Mercedes which both have 3 teams being powered by their engines 2017 which will not likely change at all in 2018 unless sudden changes come. Mclaren will more likely badge it Alfa Romeo to make it less obvious, but still it is not likely going to fool anyone familiar with the Fiat group (read it's a Ferrari engine just badged Alfa Romeo).

Though more than likely they swallow their pride and sorrows just to continue with Honda to make it were Honda can make a great engine just to get them back to the front and win championships. Though to when they completely want to quit it I don't know at their 10 year partnership though it's showing clearly this year. The f1 world and media will be shocked to see it happen if this happens and wil be absolutely hilarious to see your former rival being powered by your PU if the FIA forces both to do it. It might verify Mclaren's claims of having "one of the best chassis" on the grid if they do. Though I am not sure if Fiat and Ferrari are still linked in doing technical sharing as in Ferrari helping with parts of Fiats so please tell me about it. It would be funny to see how Alonso reacts to having his Former team power his current team.

My first reply here on this forum.

 

Correct but remember FIA is the ruling body and could truly if it wishes force them to do it. Though I can imagine it might push towards the threat of Ferrari again to leave F1 if the FIA does try to.

 

I would hope ferrari would point to the fact they have an engine contract, and want to break it, and why should ferrari pick up the pieces, make them keep the Honda grenades till their contract runs the full term

 

+1

 

"Desperate times require desperate measures...."

That´s what Ron Dennis will be thinking the day he´ll go into the McLaren Technology Center with an AK-47.

 

NEVER

GONNA

HAPPEN

 

I agree it will not happened I think Ferrari would choose move to say to the WEC rather than supply Mclaren their engines. And giving way your own engine to your rival that is completing you in the market is a terrible idea. Edit +1 to you

 

I think they'll continue with Honda. HUGE money is the reason why.

The HUGE money may even be enough to keep Fred Alonso in the fold. Maybe not . . .

 

Ferrari don't even supply their customers with the current engine so I cannot even fathom they would want to help an arch rival. Nor would anyone blame them. I have to imagine if they are forced that would cause huge turmoil in the political arena of it all.

 

Taking the money and parking the car a few laps in the races may do a lot of good to his bank account, but I think that Alonso would do irreparable damage to his credibility if he was to take Honda's money and they cannot deliver.

 

The strongest motivation mentioned in the article is that of creating something of an alliance of interests with Ferrari and McLaren when it comes to negotiating both new technical rules and distribution of moneys in any new Concorde agreement.

There may be a certain distaste to the whole affair, but the enemy of my enemy (Merc) is my friend may prevail when so much is at state in the new tech & business agreements.

And while none of us would be fooled, wearing the Alfa badge may provide not only sufficient cover for such an alliance, but promote the resurgence of the Alfa brand here at a critical time with its efforts (8C, 4C, Guilia, Stevio). There is ALOT at stake for Machionne and Arrivabene.

May you live in interesting times......

 

Isn't that damage already done? At this point, I don't think he really cares. Well, as long as those HUGE checks keep coming!

 

Agree, let'em burn....if they need help i'll provide the gasoline and matches myself!!

 

Here is the only way I see Alfa Romeo nee Ferrari, powering McLaren... if its paid for by Honda, while they figure out what to do on their own front.

if Honda leave McLaren - that is $100M of sponsorship gone... how will they gap it?

 

What's with the thought you can't beat a factory team using customer engines for the WDC/WCC? RBR did it with Renault engines in 2010 and 2011 against the factory Renault team.

I said it in some other thread, but McLaren needs to invest in building their own engines for their road and race cars. If they were just an F1 team like they were a few years ago, being a customer for F1 engines makes sense. Now that they build road cars, it makes sense to invest in their own for both road and racing divisions. Cut to the chase and buy Cosworth.

 

So long Mercedes has a shot at winning a race/title, they won't allow a factory team to challenge them. This was made extremely clear by Mercedes when Williams had a good chance at winning the 2014 Austrian GP but weren't allowed to use the faster Mercedes maps. It wasn't even the chance of having a perfect season, as they threw that away the race before already.

Renault never had a chance of challenging Red Bull, in fact they where far behind them, why would they intentionally hold them back? At least with Red Bull winning the name would be there.

 

Being a customer has no disadvantage, UNLESS the engine manufacturer has its own team.

McLaren was supposed to be Honda's first team, and therefore benefit from exclusivity for a while. It didn't work, but the idea was credible initially.

I am afraid that the idea that McLaren is going to produce its own F1 engines is grossly unrealistic. McLaren is a small constructor that hasn't the resources to create a hybrid engine.

A car manufacturer (I can't remember which one) estimated that at least $1 billion would have to be spent to built a power unit to match Mercedes. That's apparently what Honda and Renault have spent so far. Nobody thinks McLaren can afford that.
McLaren isn't in that league, and probably will never me: it's a small niche sport car manufacturer building less than 5000 cars at the moment.

Also, road car engines and F1 engines are completely different animals. McLaren uses a Riccardo-designed turbo V8 for its road cars, tuned to different power from 340hp to 700hp and built by a contractor. McLaren is in fact looking to cooperate with BMW and use their power plants in future.

BTW, Cosworth is now a shadow of the past; it hardly produces any front line racing engines, and is mostly a components manufacturer these days.

 

+1 Mclearen just doesn't have the juice to be able to build a F! engine. Perhaps a road car engine but why with only 5,000 units when they can contract for them and not do all the expensive R/D for so small of production?

 

Ferrari is also low production and have a lot of in-house development. I think in the longrun it would be better for McLaren to do it themselves, but yes in the short term it's a lot more affordable and manageable to outsource.