April 20, 2017 by Joe Saward
If Red Bull’s engine strategy for the future is to campaign for an independent engine supplier, the company is in more trouble in F1 than I thought. In its current situation, Red Bull Racing ought to be out there, doing whatever is necessary to get a manufacturer deal. If that is not possible, then they ought to be paying someone to build them an engine, as TAG did with Porsche back in days of yore. If you want to win races in the modern world of Formula 1, you need to have a factory engine. If you want evidence of this, it is very clear. Ferrari customer teams have won only one race in the modern era (since 1980). That was Sebastian Vettel’s win at Monza in 2008 with Toro Rosso. Mercedes customers have yet to win a race since the start of the new formula in 2014. Independent customer engines would seem to be a thing of the past. One can bring back the idea, but how does one make them competitive with the factory motors that are being developed all the time? That did happen in the 1970s, when Cosworth engines battled with Ferraris and Matras, but after the arrival of the turbocharged engines of the 1980s, Cosworth faded away as a force in F1. There were some other customer engine arrangements, such as the Megatrons, Playlifes, Supertecs, Mecachromes, Asiatechs and Acers, but these were all rebadged manufacturer engines rather than proper independent engine suppliers – and none of them won a race.
pls see post 2,340 above, interesting stuff...