Germans out ?

[olliethehut]

Chrisgr31 said:

And that basically begs the question as to why the LMP1 cars don't have engines with the same basic architecture of an F1 so that teams would be able to do both or move from one to the other.

Bernie E and 1992 have called, they want their masterplan on how to ruin sportscar racing back.

[entropy]

Crafty_ said:

So, Eddie's logic on this is that Merc have nothing left to prove so can leave with their head held high.

By that logic, Ferrari should have left years ago.

He backs it up by saying that he told Zetsche all this and Zetsche was polite enough to not tell Eddie he's an idiot, which Eddie took to mean his idea is probable.

Mercedes said last year they reckon they get $3bn of value from being in F1 - brand recognition, awareness etc.
Last year the op loss was under $20m, not quite pocket change, but not far off.

I would suggest that Mercedes aren't going to go anywhere unless one of a few things happen:

FOM slash the payouts without a proportional reduction in costs
Merc decide that they aren't getting that $3bn value any more.

I don't think any of this will happen before 2020 at earliest. If Merc get what they want from new engine regs / agreement with FOM they will stay. If they left FOM would want another team (or owner) to replace them as its harder to make the "great show" they keep on about with only 9 (or less?) teams.

Dunno why all the hate with EJ. He predicted Schumi would have a comeback with Merc and most thought he was talking tosh as per usual.

Honda left at the height of their success at the end of 1992 so no reason Merc would do the same.

Manufacturers come and go whenever its suits them so it would be no surprise at all if Merc went back as an engine.

Merc are no different to Honda or Toyota or Renault - their core business is shopping trolleys to masses whereas Ferrari have existed to go racing and its reflected in selling sportscars and GTs; Ferrari have stuck it out in F1 as full-on factory team having to cope with peaks and troughs over many decades and arguably deserved their favouritism.

Vocal Minority said:

because Le Mans allows significantly more freedom in their Formula. Porsche have a 2 litre V4 and Toyota a 2.4 V6.

Teams can therefore do what they want, which will suit them, rather than being hamstrung by layout/capacity formula. It isn't in the sportscar tradition to be so prescriptive with rules as formula racing - and I think many would be disappointed to encounter restrictions put in purely to allow F1 manufacturers to dabble if they fancied it at some point.

Unfortunately there is a convergence formula with the PUs namely running lithium ion batteries/8MJ bracket/small capacity NA engine eg. Toyota previously ran supercapacitors @ 6MJ and 3.4L V8

[Ahonen]

olliethehut said:

Chrisgr31 said:

And that basically begs the question as to why the LMP1 cars don't have engines with the same basic architecture of an F1 so that teams would be able to do both or move from one to the other.

Bernie E and 1992 have called, they want their masterplan on how to ruin sportscar racing back.

Yep. A complete travesty. Less than two years between massive grids and 7 or 8 factory teams - imagine 30-35 LMP1 cars at each race - and the cancellation of the championship due to lack of cars.

You know, I missed so many opportunities to trip Bernie up in the paddock in the last five years. Sorry chief, didn't see you there. Oh by the way that was what you and the FIA did to sportscar racing, you total git.

[glazbagun]

thegreenhell said:

Honda should buy the team back again.

It would be cheaper than their current effort to get to the front!

In addition to Honda bailing after their success, Renualt also did the same during the Williams/Benneton days.

I guess Merc hung around a long time with McLaren, I'm assuming that it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to leave their engines for others to use if they left.

Edited by glazbagun on Monday 12th June 23:48