Suppose technology was improved such that the cars were 10 to 100 times quicker than they are today, and that they were a nearly invisible blur as they circulated the track without hardly any sound, vibration or any human being on board, and never a wreck or accident. So fast you couldn't see a thing and had to trust the electronic scoreboard to say what bolide was leading or had won. Would that be a satisfying experience in which to invest your time, money and passions?
Or we could actually try to tackle the subject in a realistic manner and not some hypothetical one as usual with you, though I'm glad you didn't put a paranormal spin on it for once. Like them being controlled by the minds of the engineers or their Alien makers.
When was the last time a team won the WDC with an engine by a manufacturer who also had a works team in the hunt?
I noticed that Renault sold their stake in their team in 2010, just as Red Bull took over and won with a Renault engine... so despite there being a Renault team in F1, was it a 'works' team like Ferrari or the current Mercedes team?
The reason I ask is because McLaren justified the decision to go with Honda on the basis that using a Mercedes engine against a Mercedes works team was not going to work - but it seems to be going from bad to worse for McLaren-Honda. If the reports that they are considering using a Mercedes customer engine are true, then McLaren must be in dire straits indeed...
It was still considered the works team. RBR wasn't the works team until 2011. Even still let's look at 2009, where RBR were second in the WDC and the Renault works team was much further down, and also if we look every other team with a factory effort beat their customer teams, all but Renault.
Also McLaren were beating Mercedes for a few years until 2013. So while on Red Bull spring to mind as the most recent non-factory team to get a WDC, it has been seen that others are capable of beating the factory team.
I haven't seen reports of McLaren going back to Mercedes, and to me I think Eric Bouiller's interview this week is getting misquoted by other journos to just cause some drama before the start of the season.
McLaren have, according to Aunty, made preparatory approaches to Mercedes.
I tend to agree, I imagine that a swap would be held over Honda for 2018. Still, if the will (and contractual possibility) exists and a compromise chassis alteration is do-able for 2017 it might be the best of a bad job.
Here's the thing, if I were McLaren and I wanted to win in the future with the best possibilities, I would not be switching from Honda or leaving them. The smart approach which others will disagree is to stay with Honda. Because here is what allowed Mercedes to become the dominant team, they knew in advanced (as did others) that 2014 was going to bring a new engine package, that was the deal for many as far back as 2012 or late 2011 was understood.
Now we know as early as 2015, that 2020 is the next time a new engine formula will be seen. Which is probably why Honda is willing to have a long term investment in F1. McLaren and more so their fans need to suck it up and realize their time will come or they could just jump ship for the short term hope of winning a race or two again.
not so subtle there.![[Nor]MclarenF1](/forum/data/avatars/m/169/169289.jpg?1413287138){kind=avatar}
