When should Mercedes pull out of F1?

[glazbagun]

http://www.inautonews.com/jackie-stewart-tells-mer...

Everyone's favourite reticent F1 champion reckons Merc should quit while they're ahead and do a Ford DFV. Good idea? When I think of Renault, I think of Williams crushing everyone in the 90's more than I think of Alonso, though that might be an age thing. IIRC, Renault pulled out of the V10 era because they felt they never got any press except when they didn't win. Though Merc got some good press during the McLaren years.

With the cyclical nature of F1 though, the decline will come eventually. Would Merc be better served by pulling out as legends at the end of the (presumably) First Hybrid era as opposed to suffering the indignity of Ferrari since the Schumacher era?

Edited by glazbagun on Friday 15th April 00:17

[glazbagun]

HustleRussell said:

I'm pretty sure you're both wrong on that but I can't be arsed to research...

Off the top of my head- possible F1 advances which have ended up on road cars;

Monocoque construction
Composite construction
Intelligent active suspension
Upper body downforce / aero
Pneumatic poppet valves
Some types of multiple clutch gearboxes
Electronically adjustable diff
I read on here that Williams F1 had already sold some KERS technology?
Only a matter of time before thermal and kinetic energy recovery makes it onto more cars, albeit likely to be stored in a battery and used for engine- off running.

Whilst acknowledging that it's an incomplete list, I'd say that's a tiny amount of things. And how many of them have a direct link to a works F1 team? How many road cars, for instance, use the engine as a stressed member? Toyota and Telsa are the pioneers of road car Hybrid/Electric tech and neither have F1 teams. BMW's diesels and efficient dynamics package have been class leading and unrelated to F1.

F1 is like the timing competitions Swiss watchmakers used to enter in the pre-Quartz era. Yes, they involve the best watchmakers and the best machining practices and the best QC, etc. But the required methods and end goal are so different to volume production as to be a different world. F1 is a bunch of very talented people in a very expensive shed/machine shop.

[glazbagun]

EagleMoto4-2 said:

Look how many road cars now sport shift paddles behind their steering wheels. Its taken rather a long time to appear from their inception on the 1989 Ferrari F1 car, but that is one major visible thing that has filtered down.

But look at the ones we have- VAG one's are great, but VW has never been in F1. Renualt have been multiple F1 champions, but their gearboxes aren't praised. The ZF_8HP gearbox gets rave reviews, but is used in everything from the 1-Series (no F1 team) to the Range Rover (no F1 team).

The benefit Mercedes get from F1 is the same that their sponsors get- mental association with a dominant racing team and an aura of success, competition and invincibility that their marketing teams can utilize.