Force India, Mclaren Mercedes to Team Up in 2009

[rahulsampath]

I have heard that force india is in talks with mercedes for a possible engine change.This deal is not only mere engine supply but also technical support.Force india was unhappy with ferrari with their KERS program.But possibly this will be confirmed in a few days.Here are some comments on this by mclaren and force india officials:

Ron Dennis:
Some form of collaboration will emerge over the next few days, but its premature to talk about it,If we go forward with this it will be for the benefit of the team we try to assist and support and the benefit of Formula One."

Mclaren Spokesperson :
Mclaren and Mercedes are convinced that the independent teams are of vital importance for F1—in fact they are the bedrock on which F1 has been built,"

"Therefore, should we be in a position to cooperate with an independent team and should such a cooperation make economic sense, we would be prepares to do so."

"Nothing has been decided yet, but we are engaged in various discussions and will inform the media of their outcome as soon as we are able to do so."

So, in 2009 we could see two teams powered by Mercedes engines, and two teams with Mclaren backing, and maybe another British driver.

Ian Philips [Force India Marketing Manager]
There has been talks with Mercedes team and is coming out positively.There is a lot of tittle-tattle at this time of year,"However, although the KERS system will be allowed in 2009, even if it's not compulsory, there are areas of the packaging of the car that have to be finalised.

"Ferrari don't want us to develop our own system [to go with their engines], but are being a bit non-committal about whether they are even going to start the season with KERS. Force India has to build a new car for the new regulations, and can't afford to build a non-KERS car and then have whoever turn around and say that KERS will be available from July or whatever
"Ferrari is unable to say what it is going to do, or whether it won't be running KERS until the third or fourth race of the year, so it is only natural that we have to go and ask everyone else about what they are up to.... Nobody really knows what is happening at this stage, but three or four teams have embryonic systems, and the end of October is really the time when we have to put a line under our chassis design."

Ironically, Phillips went on to say that he had been told that running without KERS in 2009 might give Force India the best chance of success, but admits that the team cannot afford to shun the technology.

"One team's technical leader told me that a non-KERS car would probably win the championship next year," he revealed, "and there is an argument that, without KERS, you could design the ultimate in wheelbase, chassis, weight distribution, etc. You could probably qualify brilliantly with it too, but the KERS
cars, if they used their extra horsepower off the line, would overcome that..."

[wesley123]

I hope they get mercedes ower next year, it will get better backing then and more support so then they should really get lost from the last place.

[Conceptual]

The last part of that statement brings up an interesting point...

Will the cars that qualify at the back of the pack have an advantage at the start? Technically, they come to a full stop later than the rest of the grid, so with a flywheel KERS system in place, they would be in a position to have their KERS fully wound up, where the front row would be decelerating while waiting for everyone else to line up.

Does anyone have any ideas how this may play out? I can see it working out in a way that off the line that p19-20 may have the full 6.7 seconds worth of stored energy, where p1-2 may only be at 4 seconds of available power.

Obviously, the electrical KERS systems will not suffer from this, but they will suffer their own mech-elect-chem-elect-mech losses...

Any ideas?

[ESPImperium]

Very Intresting!!!

Mercedies to FIF1 would make sence as that means that the Maccas will have 2 more cars to slow down the Prancing Horses when needed to.

[The FOZ]

Very Intresting!!!

Mercedies to FIF1 would make sence as that means that the Maccas will have 2 more cars to slow down the Prancing Horses when needed to.

???

I'm pretty sure the agreement will be for engines and technical support, not really anything to do with racing "against" a certain opposing team together.

Oh, and Force India will still suck, good engines won't do anything for a sub-par chassis, gearbox, and drivers.

Unless they'll block Ferrari when they're lapping them...

[cba_]

Well they can pit at the same time

[ISLAMATRON]

Very Intresting!!!

Mercedies to FIF1 would make sence as that means that the Maccas will have 2 more cars to slow down the Prancing Horses when needed to.

???

I'm pretty sure the agreement will be for engines and technical support, not really anything to do with racing "against" a certain opposing team together.

Oh, and Force India will still suck, good engines won't do anything for a sub-par chassis, gearbox, and drivers.

Unless they'll block Ferrari when they're lapping them...

Actually I think the agreement will be for the whole drivetrain, Engine, KERS & gearbox, plus they might get Paul Di Resta out of the deal and he is already better than both their current drivers IMHO, they could end up with the best customer deal on the grid.

Plus it would free up alot of development money for the aero side of things.

[WhiteBlue]

This is all anticipating Bernie's proposal to allow customer cars to teams with more than 10 years in F1.

Question: Dr Mallya, any particular areas where you are keen to see costs cut?
VM: "Well, you know there are several areas where costs can be cut. There has been a proposal mooted by FOM suggesting that the Concorde Agreement be modified to allow those teams that have been in Formula One for more than 10 years to exchange parts or to also go down the customer car route.

"The more you share, the less are the costs. There is no rocket science in that. It is logic. I think that is one of the things that we would certainly support but commonality of equipment and parts is once again something that reduces costs. I would imagine that that is the logic behind the FIA's decision to call for a tender for supply of the drive train.

Force India qualify because they are a direct descendent of Jordan.
Toro Rosso qualify because they have been previously in F1 as Minardi.

So Toro Rosso can run Newey chassis and Ferrari engines. Force India will be better off with McLaren or at least will want to use McLaren as a bargaining chip with Ferrari. But genuinely McLaren look like a better proposition in 2009 than Ferrari as Ferrari has lots of customers and McLaren none. With the testing rules tightening they need customers for some of their testing. They will be offering generous conditions.

I think that this 10 year rule is a desperate attempt to preserve current privateers and keep new guys like Super Aguri and Prodrive out to appease the likes of Williams. Nevertheless Williams will be screwed if this goes through.

All this protection for existing teams is just disgusting. F1 should be more open instead of bankrupting teams like Super Aguri. The fat cats had a good time for many years. Let some other teams have a chance to go for glory.