How far behind is McLaren ?

Red Bull did buy an existing team; that's true. But in all fairness to them, they have built it to heights it never experienced before. Come to think of it, there are very few teams in F1 history that equal the Red Bull Juggernaut of the Vettel years.
I hope they stay in F1, but who knows?

 

McLaren is up'ing the power even more this week, ahead of the b-spec engine for Spain. So, w a b-spec engine coming, I don't think we're going to see that "point of marginal returns" just quite yet, which bodes well for the return of some level of competitiveness by McLaren-Honda.

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McLaren will up the power of its Honda engine again this weekend in Bahrain before introducing a new-spec power unit at the Spanish Grand Prix.

McLaren has not qualified higher than the penultimate row of the grid this year, but has closed on the gap to the front of the grid at each round since the season-opener in Australia. It has been running its Honda power unit detuned to try to ensure reliability, but it is now confident it can up the power again in Bahrain this weekend.

"We know which step we can still get out of this engine, so already in Bahrain we can power up the power unit a little bit and in Barcelona we have another spec coming, so we will keep improving every race," racing director Eric Boullier said. "There was a major step in terms of the reliability package [in China], so there's no issue. This is a good achievement, and now we know we can power up the engine and with the same base we know we have some potential we can unlock with this engine, so it's okay."

However, Boullier would not predict the impact the new updates would have on McLaren's competitiveness, only confirming that the team is still targeting competitive results by the end of the year.

"I'm not saying any dates because every race we bring improvements. The potential of the engine we know is quite high, they have been quite ambitious because we keep repeating it but if you want to beat Mercedes you have to be better than them.

"So we know there is some potential in the engine, there will be a push for the European campaign and even on the car itself we have another strong aerodynamic package coming in Barcelona. The target is we want to be competitive by the end of the season. That means we can prove out the potential from both the engine and the organisation."

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Source: Honda to up power in Bahrain ahead of new spec engine in Spain

 

+1 For instance, It would be nice to sponsor Ferrari....lol

 

I don't see Deiter.'s ego taking the demotion.

 

Well, finally Mclaren will be doing the sensible thing and turning up the engine power a notch this weekend.

 

Then they will need to start worrying about tyre deg when they get some hp

 

Yes - how does the Mclaren work the tires. As always we see again this year, its just about the tires again.

 

Red Bull "the team" isn't just some big expense on Red Bull "the business"'s balance sheet. The team itself is quite profitable, I'm sure. There's no way it would exist if it wasn't making money. The question becomes, how long will it continue to be profitable unless they start winning again.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/csylt/2014/04/03/revealed-red-bulls-1-2-billion-bet-on-formula-one/

 

RedBull have really been wasting their money. Nobody will remember that RB won 4 in a row, they will remember that Newey won 4 in a row.

I'm well aware that RB sponsor lots of Motorsport but I would struggle to list what now.

On the other hand Mercedes current dominance will be remembered like it was in 1955 ...
Pete

 

Yep and because they are a manufacturer not just a sponsor.
Pete

 

IMO Mercedes is most remembered for leaving F1

 

99% of the RB market never heard of Newey.

 

So true!

 

Wow. You only read what you want to read. Sad, really.

 

What is the RB market? Can't imagine people that drink the stuff give too hoots about F1, so why do they compete in it?

I always thought it was just an ego trip for the owner ... ?
Pete

 

People watching F1 need a wake up these days.

I start to find pro-cycling more entertaining again

 

Most F1 fans around the world are not like the typical American F1 fan. Much like American football, there are "casual" fans that watch. They may not know, or be interested in, the fine details of the sport/team. But, the TV is on and they are watching and rooting for their team/driver.

Sponsors do not care if the person watching the race knows the name of the guy who designed the race car, they just want to know how many people are watching, and how long their logo is going to be displayed, on average, during a Grand Prix.

Even with some market numbers on a decline, the overall exposure is huge. Some of the following data is dated, but it gives you an idea of the global scope of F1.


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https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/thoughts-of-tv-numbers/

 

Red Bull has been sponsoring all kinds of "extreme sports" and motor racing for decades (including F1 with Sauber) so I think that this is more than just a toy for the owner.