The FIA allows engine manufactures the
opportunity to supply to a set number of teams. Currently we have 4
suppliers: Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault and Cosworth with the latter
likely to fall by the wayside at the end of the 2013 campaign.
Cosworth have reportedly started work on a 2014 specification engine
but with them up for sale and their most sought after products in
aerospace technology the 2014 Cosworth Engine may never see the light
of day.
Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault meanwhile
have all invested huge sums in the 2014 engines and associated
technology that will form ERS. All of the big three have had their
engines on the test bench and are on schedule for the 2014 season.
Of the two Cosworth powered teams HRT
are also up for sale and currently their future looks somewhat bleak.
This leaves Marussia as the sole Cosworth powered car which would
undoubtedly seal Cosworth's F1 fate in regards to further heavy
investment in 2014.
This leaves 11 (maybe 12) teams
requiring supply on the grid and so lets see where those
engines may go:
Constructor | Engine | |
2013 | 2014 | |
Ferrari | Ferrari | Ferrari |
Sauber | Ferrari | Ferrari |
Toro Rosso | Ferrari | Renault |
Red Bull | Renault | Renault |
Lotus | Renault | Renault |
Williams | Renault | Renault?? |
Caterham | Renault | Renault |
Mercedes | Mercedes | Mercedes |
McLaren | Mercedes | Mercedes |
Force India | Mercedes | ?? |
Marussia | Cosworth | ?? |
HRT | Cosworth | ?? |
Force India are apparently in talks to
switch supply from Mercedes to Ferrari, meanwhile Williams have had a
reasonable amount of success this year with Renault and so switching
would most probably be more of a financial one for 2014 if they do
indeed move. This still leaves Marussia (and hopefully HRT) to find
engine partners, with Marussia's technical tie in with McLaren I
would not be surprised to see Mercedes power behind the Russian
sponsored team.
The FIA limits the amount of teams an
engine supplier can supply to 3 teams (unless the FIA give
dispensation as they have for Renault this year who supply 4 teams).
When Toro Rosso join Renault in 2014 this would be elevated to 5 if
Williams are to stay on board, bringing the Renault reach far beyond
that of their counterparts. The original limitation on engine supply
was brought in when F1 had the luxury of 7 suppliers and was used to
level the marketplace. With only 3/4 suppliers and 11/12 teams to
supply the FIA have been asked to revise their stance as the cost of
the 2014 engines will then be dramatically reduced for the teams.
Renault may however have decided to
take the ball out of the FIA's court and employ another tactic we
have seen before in F1: Re-Badged Engines. Renault form a much
larger concern when considering the group of manufacturers their
aligned with. Red Bull's announcement in Interlagos signals in my
opinion their intentions as 2013 Red Bull Racing will be have
Infiniti as their title sponsor. This is no coincidence with
Infiniti being one of the aforementioned Renault-Nissan groups luxury
marques.
This would open the door for
RenaultSport to supply upto 6 teams even under the current
regulations with both Red Bull teams carrying the Infiniti banner
whilst one of the other Renault teams take the other slot (Most
probably with a level of support from Renault/Infiniti which to my
eyes lends itself well to the currently named Lotus). Caterham will
most definitely remain under the RenaultSport banner with their fresh
association resurrecting the Alpine brand.
Infiniti has been around the Red Bull
team for quite some time but more recently their adoption of
Sebastian Vettel in their ad campaigns has cemented their F1
intentions. Utilising the Renault platform in F1 the Infinti brand
will quickly emerge as a master stroke used by the group to not only
raise it's global profile but maximise Renault's F1 presence in a very cost effective manner.
Seems I wasn't the only one considering this as Autosport have now run this story denying Renault will rebrand their engines: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104561
Seems I wasn't the only one considering this as Autosport have now run this story denying Renault will rebrand their engines: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104561
Good analysis. Having an Infiniti (Nissan!)channel allows Renault to get economies of scale too thereby bringing the cost down or making more money....but the real news here is with (K)ERS. This is directly where Infiniti wants to play in the USA and probably where it also adds value in the equation.
ReplyDeleteRob Ducker