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JimmyK wrote:What do Williams have to offer Toyota in return for any free engines?
Help with designing the car could be an option, I suppose, but then they might as well form one team together, it would be cheaper, for sure.
Driver wise, I know Mark Webber's almost certainly staying at Williams, and Toyota seem to be denying they want Rosberg, any thoughts?
Williams has driver slots that would be an option for Toyota drivers that would otherwise not be able to drive in F1. Kinda like Red Bull and Torro Rosso.
Sir Frank Williams run a 'B' team for a manufacturer who can't buy a win? Help them with their chassis in exchange for free engines? How would that work?
A.) He develops the driving talent and ships them off to the Mother team when they're primed. Thereby pulling a full Jordan.
B.) He develops their chassis and builds his own competition. Not only that, but if he did get Toyota competitive, (or they stumble upon a good chassis out of sheer dumb luck or just by running out of bad ideas) don't you think they'd have him back off his own cars to keep themselves at the front? That or tune down the horsepower to ensure the same result without having to threaten the continued flow of 'free' engines.
Still seems like Cossies are a better idea. I think they'll have reliability to match their power by the end of this season. Williams already have the chassis and talent. So for '07, both drivers will have another year of experience behind them and also be improved. We could easily see Williams-Cosworth in the top three next year.
Help them with their chassis in exchange for free engines? How would that work?
Alright alright, t'was only a vague guess as I honestly couldn't think of any other benefits, for Toyota providing free engines, than Williams chassis designers/engineers and the like going to work for Toyota.
I dont know about free engine supplies. I was reading in F1 Racing this month about it all. Apparently rumour has it that Toyota want $15m for the engine supply (assuming the deal is similar to that of midland's). Some sources also say that Williams are $45m short of their sponsorship budget for 2007, and its a tight one. Last moth F1 racing complied a list of all the team's sponsor budgests.
They estimated Williams to be at $83.5m, whereas Mclaren (who dont have to pay for thier engines) are getting about $140.75m.
Apparently Williams are gambling that a major manufacturer supply of engines will bring in sufficiant extra sponsorship to pay for the engines. But this will only work if Toyota agree to re-badge the engines "Lexus", otherwise they'll just be seen as a team with a customer engines deal - like Midland.
With regards to Free engine supplies, Williams COULD get them, rumour has it that Toyota believe this could keep their team on thier toes, also providing a possible race seat for test driver Ricardo Zonta, or even deveolpment programs for Toyota's favoured Japanese drivers.
It all seems so complicated!
Silence is golden when you don't know a good answer.
Spencer is right about the financial aspects of the deal. But for Williams to put Toyota's favored drivers in his cars would make his team simply a feeder team to the corporate giant. Are Sato and Ide the best Japan can offer? They must be if SA tapped Montangny to fill their seat. Honda themselves have no Japanese drivers.
Williams is clearly superior to Toyota despite the cash-flow diffference. It would be a shame for the sport to lose it's last strong independant, especially one with with the history and competitiveness that Williams have, to todays corpororate racing. As Tom frequently states, independants are necessary,
Maybe I'm stuck in the past, but I think I saw better races when we had people like Williams competing against the likes of Brabham, Chapman, Tyrrell, the flamboyant Teddy Yip and the few factory teams like Ferrari, Renault or Alfa Romeo. And Honda and Porsche were just engine suppliers. (There's a thought, Williams-Porsche) But you can't compete with $400,000,000.00 yearly budgets.
A far cry from when Colin Chapman was raked over the coals for putting sponsor logos on his cars.
