Heard on the grapevine...

[fpv_gtho]

Thats likely to be the case, but if they were to have the blueprints submitted from Bahrain this year, then Cosworth would potentially have the best engine.

I think most of the engines are pretty close anyway on terms of power. The only major shakeup could be Renault overtaking the Cossie's in development.

[MrKipling]

IThat doesn't make sense, making it a single engine formula would be better...

That kind of defeats the point of F1 though - limiting budgets would be a better way of doing it: give teams a set amount of money for each area of the car and see what happens.

I don't think they're planning an engine development freeze - and they'll never get it through anyway. The teams wouldn't allow it.

[Daz27]

I agree, I honestly cannot see the viability or logic in freezing everyones development of a more or less brand new engine design (for F1) for 3 years or however long they intend to do it for. That to me is just plain nuts.

What they should be doing is having a control gearbox, like they have done with the Hollinger 6 speed in V8SCS, with controlled gear ratios, (and for f__k sake I am NOT saying make the formula one cars run the Hollinger, if you think I'm saying that you should be reading a comic book or something and not be in here, but getting rid of that gay arsed paddle shift would be nice) then limit the final drive ratios to say three different sets of gears and mandate what final drive ratio to what track, and bang a rev limiter on the motors. Easy fixed.

You can go hell for leather on anything you like with your engines, you make it rev out as fast as those lil conrods can handle, but you cant go past 19'000 rpm (theoretical number grabbed from outer space) or whatever. How easy is that?

Theres still a bunch of technology, it'll keep all those engineers in work, and they'll still be trying to extract 3 poofteenths of a Kw every time they have a motor on the dyno.

Before someone starts sulking saying that then all the teams will be level and it'll be too much like the IRL or Cart, Id like to cut them off and say thats crap, Cosworth will still have their engine, ferrari will still have theirs, BMW theirs, it wont be a 'control' engine formula like we all dread, but a little more restricted. And therefore cheaper.

The big argument with formula one is cutting costs, if a team has 200 million squids to spend, and the rules say you can only spend 45 million squids on building and developing the car, then 155 million squids are sitting in the fridge arent they, what do you do with them? Save them? Hell no... Build the flashest HQ you can, then heck, we need another wind tunnel... If there is money, they will spend it, if not on the cars, then on something else. You can't legislate how much money someone has, thats bordering on communism. Why don't people get this?

Mr Mosley if your reading, sure I'd love a job....

[MrKipling]

Only a month later than I heard...

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=36773

[Wouter Melissen]

The first sign of Toyota's imminent departure from Formula 1 to focus on Le Mans once more.

[henk4]

The first sign of Toyota's imminent departure from Formula 1 to focus on Le Mans once more.

coming from a different grapevine?

[MrKipling]

The first sign of Toyota's imminent departure from Formula 1 to focus on Le Mans once more.

Well thank god for that... I've never really seen the logic of Toyota being in F1, especially now they've dropped the Celica and the MR2! They've been over-spending horribly!

Question is now, who will buy the team?

[Daz27]

I keep seeing in the motorsport rags over this side of the pond that Toyota are keen to buy out Williams F1... I think I saw it in the news column of www.grandprix.com as well at some stage or another.

[magracer]

I keep seeing in the motorsport rags over this side of the pond that Toyota are keen to buy out Williams F1... I think I saw it in the news column of www.grandprix.com as well at some stage or another.

That seems weird... As Mr K said, they are already spending too much money in an underachieving team to go buy another one...

What I could see coming is Mercedes buying out McLaren. Anyone hear something about this?

[MrKipling]

What I could see coming is Mercedes buying out McLaren. Anyone hear something about this?

I seriously doubt that. Mercedes already hold large shares in McLaren and the 'McMerc' brand association is so strong now, they needn't bother with the faff of buying the team.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

[fpv_gtho]

It seems that if Toyota were to buy Williams, it would be after abandoning their operations at Cologne

[Daz27]

Why do they have to abandon? Theres a precedent here, its called Red Bull. Having 2 teams makes development easier for a start, especially come 2008 when it will be legal to buy chassis etc from other teams. Also allows 2 votes whenever there is a vote on rules etc. Makes perfect sense for Toyota, the largest car company on earth, to own 2 teams.

[fpv_gtho]

Even Toyota have their limits to how much money they'll spend. Alot of people are speculating that they might want to bail on the series due to their current lack of success. They could either downgrade their operations, or start over by buying out an existing team such as Williams. Taking over a 2nd team seems to be a very distant option.

[Daz27]

I'll just say I'd be extremely surprised if Toyota left. I would be less surprised if they took over another team. Results haven't been so bad this year, taking into account the pathetic excuses for drivers they have, theyd have a better chance of a podium using a couple of Sydney cab drivers. I dont expect to see Toyota pulling the pin on their investment just yet.

[MrKipling]

Results haven't been so bad this year, taking into account the pathetic excuses for drivers they have, they'd have a better chance of a podium using a couple of Sydney cab drivers.

lol - harsh... but ultimately fair. Ralf and Jarno just seem to desperately lack consistency and commitment.

I can also see your point about Toyota not pulling out their investment just yet, and sticking with makes more sense when you look at it like that. But they're going to be faced with the tough decision of whether they carry on middling and spending tonnes of cash, cut their budget and run the risk of sliding backwards, keep hammering on at it whatever the outcome of the previous two choices and risk devaluing the brand further or drop out.

It's going to be tough - perhaps they need to start getting a bit more adventurous with their driver choices. Maybe get some 'young-guns' behind the wheel - create some positive press.