Cosworth wins FIA standard engine tender for 2010
Honda's departure from Formula One came down to a singular factor: cost. The amount of cash required to campaign a team (or two) in the top tier of open-wheel motorsports has been on an upwards trajectory for as long as we can remember, and combined with the current economic downturn, it was just a matter of time before a manufacturer questioned whether or not it was worth the expense. That's a tough pill for enthusiasts to swallow considering all the knowledge gleaned from F1 -- not to mention WRC.
However, in an attempt to get costs in check, the FIA announced earlier this year that it would pursue a tender to supply an engine and transmission package to teams for the 2010 season and beyond. F1's governing body announced today that Cosworth has been tapped to provide the new "low-cost" drivetrain, that requires an up-front payment of 1.97 million Euros and then an additional 6.42 million Euros each season during the three-year contract. While 20+ million Euros might not seem like a bargain, it's a pittance compared to what automakers invest developing their own engine. If they opt out of the unbadged Cosworth engine, teams can use their own de-tuned version of the current 2.4-liter V8. Transmission choices are still up in the air, as Cosworth negotiates with Xtrac and Ricardo.
For all the details, you can read Bernie Eccelstone's letter to the teams after the jump.
PRESS RELEASE
The announcement of Honda's intended withdrawal from Formula One has confirmed the FIA's longstanding concern that the cost of competing in the World Championship is unsustainable.
In the FIA's view, the global economic downturn has only exacerbated an already critical situation.
As the guardians of the sport, the FIA is committed to working with the commercial rights holder and the remaining members of FOTA to ensure that Formula One becomes financially sustainable.
The FIA President has today sent the attached letter to all of the Formula One teams:
Further to my letter of 18 November, we have completed the tendering process and are now in exclusive negotiations with Cosworth together with Xtrac and Ricardo Transmissions to supply a complete Formula One power train starting in 2010.
The engine will be a current Formula One engine while the transmission will be state of the art Formula One and a joint effort by two companies which already supply transmissions to most of the grid.
The cost to each team taking up this option will be an up front payment of €1.97 million Euros and then €6.42 million Euros per season for each of the three years of the supply contract.
This price is based on four teams signing up and includes full technical support at all races and official tests, plus 30,000 km of testing.
The annual cost will reduce if more teams take up the option, for example to €5.84 million Euro per team with eight teams. It will further reduce if less than 30,000 km of testing is required. Neither engine nor transmission will be badged.
As suggested in my letter of 18 November, teams participating in the 2010 Championship would then have three options:
- The above.
- The right to build an engine themselves, identical to the above, having been supplied with all the necessary technical information.
- The right to continue to use their existing engine, with the current ban on development and requirement for engine parity still in place.
In combination with the programme of cost reductions for the chassis, race weekend and team home base outlined in my letter of 18 November, these arrangements have a number of advantages. These include:
- Enabling the independent teams to survive in the current difficult economic climate.
- Facilitating the replacement of a manufacturer team if we suffer additional losses.
- Stabilising Formula One while new road relevant technologies are introduced together with a state of the art high tech engine, which could be in Formula One as early as 2013 should the car industry by then be in a position to fund its development.
- Avoiding any change to the Formula One spectacle and keeping the technology at current levels.
In the event of fewer than four teams signing up, the FIA may still proceed but the price on offer will vary. The supply contracts will be with Cosworth but in the first instance teams are requested to make their intentions known to my office.
Yours sincerely,
Max Mosley
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
ckm 4:39PM (12/05/2008)
Sounds like Ferrari might be the next team to leave F1.....
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AZZO45b 4:51PM (12/05/2008)
Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz (majority owner in McLaren), BMW, Renault, & Toyota.
They are in F1 to train engineers & push R&D boundaries.... F1 just became an open wheel NASCAR... but the engines are still designed/ engineered by Chevy, Dodge, Ford & Toyota!!!
Why would the F1 manufacturers want to spend LESS $$$ running in a spec series?
Ferrari has a spec series... A1GP. F1 has a much better driver pool than A1GP but by 2010 (according to this PROPOSAL) both series would be a world spec show. Sad sad, sad.
AZZO45b 4:53PM (12/05/2008)
Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz (majority owner in McLaren), BMW, Renault, & Toyota.....
.... will all LEAVE too!!! (I was so pi$$ed I forgot to finish my sentence!!!).
Kitko 6:05PM (12/05/2008)
Renault has it's own series - GP2.... better than A1 GP, IMO
Anyway, I'm having a hard time to remember when was the last time Cosworth F1 engine didn't suck. The last top team to use them was Williams (not really a top team for the past few years, but anyway) in 2006. The Cosworth engine powered them to pathetic 11 points.
Apparently, the only criteria for winning were 1. not Ferrari, 2. not Renault, 3. not German, 4. British.
I guess we'll going to see breakaway manufacturers' series.
ckm 6:47PM (12/05/2008)
@kitko
The Cosworth DFV was legendary and was a benchmark for many, many years: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosworth_DFV
Of course, that was 30 years ago, but still....
adrian 7:09PM (12/05/2008)
Bring back full tobacco sponsorship. That should ease some of the financial pain. Standard engines?. Forget it.
AZZO45b 7:16PM (12/05/2008)
kitko: When Cosworth last competed in F1 they were truly a very small fish in the F1 pond.
How would lil' indie Cosworth whoop on giants like Ferrari, when the Prancing Horse were embarrassing Mercedes, Honda, Toyota,etc. ??? I left out Renault as 2006 was a Renault championship year... but you can get my point, eh?
cFoo 12:24AM (12/06/2008)
Ferrari will be gone for sure. The Bernie & Max show is just too much for everyone else to take.
Even if Bernie fork out $$$$ to keep Ferrari there is no point for them to stick around. Who's going to provide the competition? BMW, MB, Renault and Toyota will surely pack up after the next season if they haven't already thought about it.
Richard 9:27AM (12/06/2008)
Ferrari IS Formula 1.
Should the scuderia leave F1, F1 will surely die a very quick death. Max - for all his idiocy - knows that. More importantly, Bernie truely understands that and, God bless him, it IS Bernie's show.
The Cosworth - who the hell owns them now - engine is only a suggestion, not a mandate. It will not pass. Toyota want their own engine, Renault want their own engine as do Mercedes and Ferrari. Better to mandate that those four each supply a third team (they already each support one "customer" team).
prolix21 4:43PM (12/05/2008)
if Ferrari bails on F1 that is going to suck
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Joe K. 5:24PM (12/05/2008)
Prepare for suck...
pmiddle5 10:21PM (12/05/2008)
Naw. Because they are just going to go somewhere else better. Maybe the ALMS will finally get some Ferrari prototypes again
hyundaifans.com 12:16AM (12/07/2008)
They should all bail and go start their own racing series! Screw Bernie and Max!!
rndmnme 4:47PM (12/05/2008)
Ugh. I'd like some unadulterated racing please.
Some nice "cost is no object, if you can't afford to play with the big dogs it isn't our problem" racing. Why do we need to turn F1 into IROC, aren't there plenty of other racing series that already do this?
Somebody forgot to tell Bernie, Speed Costs.
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BN 4:54PM (12/05/2008)
Cause then chances are we'll only have one or two manufacturers racing, which in itself would make F1 less enjoyable. Whatever money is spent on racing in this "unlimited" F1 series would be spent on winning the races, and possibly not at all relevant to road-going cars. It could be like the Corvette in GT1 in ALMS. It runs against itself.
Secondly, if it was all just technology, the driver makes less of an impact. Heck, they can even make the car drive itself around to track by itself! I'd wonder who'd tune in every other week to watch billion dollar robo/remote control car parade around the track. (F1 is the 2nd most watched sport in the world after soccer).
rndmnme 4:58PM (12/05/2008)
Let me rephrase, the best possible drivers in the best possible cars.
I don't care if it's a field of Mercs and Ferrari's, just give me the best.
BN 5:04PM (12/05/2008)
I somewhat agree with you. Formula 1 is a balance of displaying engineering skills and driving skills. I don't think you can have both with less regulation. If the engineers had their way, we'd probably have AWD, TC, ABS, Full-on-automatics, running around the track in lightning speed, where the driver in wouldn't matter that much past a certain level.
Joe K. 5:30PM (12/05/2008)
BN, To some extent yes, drivers would become less important if all of the cars were built with a lot of those systems, but even with the systems in place the "art" of driving is still needed, when to pass, how fast you take a corner, etc. Even with faster 'error-proof' cars there would be slower drivers.
If Europe wanted an IRL series, I hear the one over here could use help. But I would have wanted F1 to remain competitive.
If Manufacturers do not see the value in insane physics-bending engineering, then they do not have to spend millions (billions?) in R&D, they can go race elsewhere, as there are less people to race against Manufacturers would invariably spend less on the series, thus inviting back competitors. Equilibrium does exist and it does not depend on artificial equality leveraged on the teams.
Biomech 4:51PM (12/05/2008)
F1 is all about the all out race to build the fastest and most expensive cars but this isn't going to help. I hope no other teams drop out after this and the financial situation.
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Pat 4:53PM (12/05/2008)
F1 should go back to simpler, slower turning v8, v10, v12, or more cylinder engines, burning alkohol with a limit of 4.0 liter displacment.
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