MAY 30, 2006

Engine games

It is expected that a deal between Williams and Toyota will be signed within the next few days. This will mean that MF1 Racing will have to look for a new engine supplier next year. The most likely outcome is a deal with Cosworth for V8s in 2007 although the team seems to think that Mercedes-Benz might be possible. MF1 did try to get Mercedes-Benz engines in the course of 2006 but McLaren still has long term plans to create a Direxiv-funded team with Jean Alesi. This will need an F1 "franchise" and it may be that eventually Direxiv will have to buy one of the smaller teams. Prodrive is rumoured to be on its way to a deal for engines and chassis with Renault. Honda will probably have Honda F1 and Super Aguri running the same package. And Red Bull is thought to be moving towards running a single design of car for both teams in 2008, possibly with Volkswagen.

For 2007, however, Red Bull Racing has to find a way to run two cars and although in theory the team could run V10s again, that would not be a very good idea for both political and performance reasons.

Our spies tell us that the thinking at the moment is that Scuderia Toro Rosso will use chassis based on the current RB2 with Ferrari V8 engines, while Red Bull Racing will move on to use Cosworth V8 engines in a completely new Adrian Newey chassis. Given the performance of Williams this year and the FIA's desire to freeze engine specs as soon as possible, the Cosworth may well be a good engine as it is very powerful and reliability will eventually come. It is better to have a strong engine that blows up than an engine without enough power.