FEBRUARY 9, 2005

Engine politics for 2006

The word on the street in Munich is that the management of BMW Motorsport has already told Red Bull Racing that it will not be supplying them with engines in 2006. If true, this is interesting as it either suggests that BMW is not keen to supply another team or it means that the company has done a deal with another team. The logical choice if BMW is not doing a deal with Red Bull would be to have agreement with Sauber and it is becoming increasingly clear that Sauber is unlikely to be with Ferrari next year: firstly because the Swiss team is not really interested in paying what Ferrari has been asking for engines and secondly because Midland F1 already has an engine supply deal with Maranello for 2006. There remains a possibility that Mercedes-Benz will do a deal with a new team called Team Dubai F1 and so the logical place for Sauber to go is either BMW, Toyota (which will have spare capacity if Midland goes to Ferrari) or Honda.

Cosworth is looking to continue in F1 with the aim being to supply Minardi with the new V8 engines which will be introduced next year. Cosworth may also want to keep Red Bull Racing as well if the Austrians cannot find a good alternative.

Cosworth has been undergoing restructuring in recent months with a new company called Cosworth Racing taking over the assets of the old Cosworth Racing. In addition Cosworth Racing's boss Tim Routsis has recently been given the job of looking after Pi Research, in addition to running the engine business. Both are now owned by Champ Car bosses Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerald Forsythe.