Cos-and-effect-worth
Formula 1 in 2010, the season dominated by Cosworth? It seems strange to think that we will be seeing ten cars on the Formula 1 grid this year running the exact same engine, and the other sixteen cars will be split between three other engine manufactures. 2010 will see one of the biggest Formula 1 grids in years, but the smallest number of engine makes it quite some time.
Cosworth F1 engines ready to ship for the 2010 season
Compare that to 1991 which had nine different engine manufactures spread across eighteen teams.
Looking back at the state of Formula 1 during the 1991 season (it was the season I started to follow F1) I can see a few comparisons between it and the upcoming 2010 season. The most notable one to me is the number of small privateer teams taking part, which is something we are going to see again in 2010 with four brand new teams taking part, and at least six teams on the grid which people will likely consider to be small fry when it comes to the F1 world. Though that is yet to be determined.
What the 2010 season lacks though when compared to 1991 is variety in the engine manufactures, and it has me wondering what the cause of that is? Especially when five of the teams will be running the Ford Cosworth engine. That Cosworth engine is fairly good though as we seen from the 2006 season, though it was somewhat prone to kicking the bucket if I remember correctly, but surely there must have been other engine manufactures who would have been keen to get involved in Formula 1?
How about Judd? They still have a relatively strong presence in the sports car racing world with a number of teams still running Judd engines in LMP 1 & 2 in the Le Mans series last year. Another British based option that seems to have a strong presence now in the Le Mans series is Zytek and they have in past been the sole engine supplier for Formula 3000 between 1996 and 2004, and they also supplied the engines for A1 Grand Prix between 2005 and 2008. Personally it those sort of engine manufactures who aren’t involved with the big car manufactures and that have more of a focus on motorsport that I would like to see getting involved in Formula 1. It’s for that same reason that I’m very glad to see Dallara building the chassis for Campos, and I would of loved to have seen Lola back in Formula 1. The big car manufactures might bring the brand names with them that help set Formula 1 apart, but for a lot of them motorsport is just a good way to advertise.
What seems more amazing though is that other car manufactures haven’t stepped up to plate to provide engines, or stayed at the plate as the case may be. Perhaps the most notable absentee from the Formula 1 grid is the Volkswagen Audi group, the fact that they have had no presence what so ever in Formula 1 is rather hard to get ones head around, especially when you consider the car manufactures that fall under that banner nowadays. Volkswagen have shown some interest in Formula 1 though recently with the sport trying to reduce cost, though unlike Honda, BMW and Toyota they seem to be more interested in the idea of just supplying engines instead of running their own team which seems like a extremely smart idea just from a cost point of view.
That Honda, BMW and Toyota have all pulled out Formula 1 over the last year and half is rather sad to see, though Honda and Toyota especially are companies that really didn’t seem to have much clue as to what they where doing when it came to running a Formula 1 team and to me those two where really just there to help advertise their brand. It would be wrong to say that they have no interest in motorsport outside of advertising, but when it came to the Formula 1 teams? I don’t think either company really had a great deal of passion for sport itself. Those three companies though all dropped out due to the cost of running a Formula 1 team, but that none of them have continued to supply engines to other teams when they already have them developed baffles me. Supplying engines would keep their names involved in Formula 1 and it would also be a far more cost effective way of being involved, and possibly far more fruitful as the teams they would be supplying could be far more capable of actually doing something in Formula 1.
How come the 2010 grid is split between four engine manufactures though? What reason is there for that? For the four new teams all running Cosworth engines in might have something to do with the FIA and Max Mosley, as it was rumoured that they had to agree to run Cosworth engines to secure entry into the 2010 season as Max and the FIA didn’t want the car manufactures having more control over the sport, but hopefully that is not the case though I guess we will never know for sure. Personally I find it somewhat more likely that Cosworth provided the new teams with a cheaper option when it came to the signing an engine supply deal, as I really can’t see running a Ferrari engine being cheap.
That no new engine manufactures have stepped up (Cosworth already having an engine developed from their last spell in F1) though is somewhat harder to understand. For the likes of Judd and Zytek it can perhaps be put down to cost and the level of technology and development needed for a Formula 1 engine. They might be supplying quality engines for sports car racing or other single-seater formulas, but even with reduced engine capacity and electronics, Formula 1 engines are still pushing the very boundaries of engine development. As for other car manufactures? Perhaps all the political turmoil that disrupted Formula 1 in 2009 and delayed the announcement of the participants for the 2010 season simply didn’t leave enough time for anyone to make a decision on whether or not to supply engines, let alone actually develop one?
Hopefully 2011 will see more engine manufactures getting involved in Formula 1 as it would be good to see, and good for the sport in the same way that the new teams joining the grid for 2010 has been, and even though we should be seeing ten cars on the grid all running the same Cosworth engine, it’s also good to see them back in the sport.
(Only took me five days to finish this blog post!)
