Christian Horner is complaining about engine disadvantages

[myurr]

I don't think Ferrari would care for a Newey-designed Red Bull on the grid with their engine, they seem to prefer no-threat customers.

I'd tend to agree - I can't see Ferrari wanting to be known as the second best car manufacturer using their engines. They may believe they can beat Red Bull fair and square, and they may or may not be right, but it would be a hell of a risk to their brand image.

[gridwalker]

This would be the reason why Seb Vettel in a Newey designed Torro Rosso is the ONLY driver to ever win a race with a customer Ferrari engine : did anyone notice how quickly Torro Rosso dropped back in 2009, when Ferrari started using them as a test bed for "long life" engines?

[mx_tifoso]

^^ How do you know that they weren't doing the same testing in 2008?

[gridwalker]

^^ How do you know that they weren't doing the same testing in 2008?

I don't know for sure, but the first time I saw reports of such engines being supplied to Torro Rosso was during 2009 ...

[ESPImperium]

I don't think Ferrari would care for a Newey-designed Red Bull on the grid with their engine, they seem to prefer no-threat customers.

I'd tend to agree - I can't see Ferrari wanting to be known as the second best car manufacturer using their engines. They may believe they can beat Red Bull fair and square, and they may or may not be right, but it would be a hell of a risk to their brand image.

I have to say that (to sound contradictory) that i do see bothe sides of the coin on this one as well.

But ill put it this way, Ferarri may not need the marketing, but how many cars are out there with the 3-pointed-star??? 4, if Ferarri were to ask for the "powered by Ferarri" on the engine cover.

Engine power for 2011 is another side story. I think that there will be one change, Williams going back to Renault, if Epsilon either dont choose Renault power for 2011 or dont get the entry for 2011.

[xpensive]

I've got a funny feeling we are talking egos here, RBR feels they are one of the big guys in F1 now and sould be treated as such.
Being a customer team is not on Matechitz agenda any more, he wants the full attention, all lights on me or something like that.

[ISLAMATRON]

Horner yapping yet again

http://en.espnf1.com/redbull/motorsport ... 21923.html

[donskar]

Horner is merely doing his job --trying to ensure his team wins. The engine freeze just does not make sense for the "pinnacle" of auto racing. (From Autosport.com):

When asked to respond to suggestions that although the Renault may be down on power, it does have advantages in other area, Horner said: "The Renault engine is a tidy engine; it is a good engine, as is the Ferrari.

"But I think horsepower is such an over-riding element that that would come at the top - you would trade any of those aspects for horsepower.

"In terms of fuel consumption, when you have less horsepower you burn less fuel as you generate less temperature. But if you take more horsepower and you run conservatively, you can end up at the same point, but you've got it for when you need it. It is a key element, absolutely."

[ISLAMATRON]

The engine freeze just does not make sense for the "pinnacle" of auto racing."

It makes perfect sense when one takes into account that we could have easily came into this season with as few as 7 teams on the grid and only 2 engine suppliers.

Or possibly even worse

[andrew]

The engine regs are a joke. I still yearn for the days of qualifying engines and race engines going bang when they are pushed to hard. F1 is just a glorified economy run and drivers having to turn the engines down is not racing.

[Scotracer]

The engine regs are a joke. I still yearn for the days of qualifying engines and race engines going bang when they are pushed to hard. F1 is just a glorified economy run and drivers having to turn the engines down is not racing.

They were blowing up because they were crap, not because they were closer to a limit. Even the V8s in 2006 with their 20,000rpm+ ceilings weren't blowing up that much.

[andrew]

My point is that I want to see machinery pushed to it's limit, not economy runs. When the drivers and the equipment were push as far as they could go was when I have seen some of the best racing I can think of.

[Scotracer]

To be honest, this 2010 season is the best I have seen in many years.

[mx_tifoso]

Boost wrote:

I wish Horner would shut up about power equalisation. He already has an engine which is more fuel efficient, has good cooling qualities so doesn't need enormous radiators and has good overall packaging requirements (Adrian Newey didn't want the Merc unit due to its overall envelope requirement) which give advantages over the other teams that cannot easily be sorted yet he also wants power parity.

Well, he's doing his job, which is to help the team win in any way possible.

Think about it, though. I believe "freezing" engines was meant as a way to save money (questionable reasoning, IMHO), NOT to lock in any one engine's advantage. I just can not accept the idea that the pinnacle of auto racing has "frozen" engines.

Is it acceptable that one team must start every season at a power disadvantage? Then that team better have Newey, or else they're hopeless (IMHO).

[zmiles2]

That's insane, the whole bit about STR being the only Ferarri customer car to win a grand prix...
On the other hand... Is there a particular reason why Red Bull is the only team other than the factory team with Renault engines?