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Sauber F1 Switches to Honda Power for 2018 SeasonFormula 1
- Thread starter GTPNewsWire
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- HamiltonMP427
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No cause FI gets more favor from Mercedes than Williams. Williams is the definition of a customer team, which is why they talk bad about Mercedes from time to time. Also why FI got Ocon and not Williams.
I mean being a junior team or customer team isn't all the great anyways compared to being a full fledged works team.
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Ah. So reverse them. Renault and Williams are the two loners pretty much.
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FI and Williams get exactly the same service from Mercedes with respect to engines.
Williams let Bottas go to Merc when the subject was raised, I don't believe they have any bad blood with Merc nor have I seen anything to indicate any friction between them.
With Stroll (and his bucket fulls of cash) they weren't really in a position to take on a second rookie. In any case, Ocon was placed at Force India before Bottas's move.
FI have a much lower budget and were open to working with a rookie. They likely receive a discount on engines to take Ocon.
Just because Sauber will have Honda engines I wouldn't describe them as a Honda "junior team", just as I wouldn't call Red Bull (with Renault engines) a junior team.
Williams let Bottas go to Merc when the subject was raised, I don't believe they have any bad blood with Merc nor have I seen anything to indicate any friction between them.
With Stroll (and his bucket fulls of cash) they weren't really in a position to take on a second rookie. In any case, Ocon was placed at Force India before Bottas's move.
FI have a much lower budget and were open to working with a rookie. They likely receive a discount on engines to take Ocon.
Just because Sauber will have Honda engines I wouldn't describe them as a Honda "junior team", just as I wouldn't call Red Bull (with Renault engines) a junior team.
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- TenEightyOne
- TenEightyOne
Their replacement driver also had to be over 25 given the terms of their Martini contract. Without that restriction they may have been content to take another buckets-full Stroll.
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- GTP_BlacqueJack
My condolences Sauber!
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- racecarman
I think Nancy Pelosi wrote Sauber's press release
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- GTP_RACECAR
The funeral happened the moment Peter Sauber stepped aside. Abit late there.
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- GTP_BlacqueJack
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- mustafur
I think it's called sarcasm.
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Except that they don't want Mercedes engines. They know that they will never win another championship so long as they are a customer team.
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Just in case anyone still thinks the Merc rumour is true, Sauber are going to buy their gearbox from McLaren next year, so they'll both be running Hondas..
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/sauber-to-use-mclaren-gearboxes-in-2018-900679/
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/sauber-to-use-mclaren-gearboxes-in-2018-900679/
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Anyone going to place a bet of Sauber placing ahead of McLaren next year? 
A lot of rumors around about how the McLaren team forced certain aspects on Honda to make their engine 'fit' (lack of a more proper term). They went down a development path for 2 years that was the wrong way and now are in their first year of an engine layout that Mercedes and Ferrari use. Not sure how true this is, but it's sad to think that Honda wasted all that time going for an engine/turbo design that was not going to put them anywhere close to the levels of Mercedes. Now they need to get their current philosophy right. It's going to take time because they started late in 2016. Hope all goes well, but Sauber needs more funds. I do wonder if they'll get that if they run a Honda driver (Noboharu Matsu****a?)
A lot of rumors around about how the McLaren team forced certain aspects on Honda to make their engine 'fit' (lack of a more proper term). They went down a development path for 2 years that was the wrong way and now are in their first year of an engine layout that Mercedes and Ferrari use. Not sure how true this is, but it's sad to think that Honda wasted all that time going for an engine/turbo design that was not going to put them anywhere close to the levels of Mercedes. Now they need to get their current philosophy right. It's going to take time because they started late in 2016. Hope all goes well, but Sauber needs more funds. I do wonder if they'll get that if they run a Honda driver (Noboharu Matsu****a?)
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- psychoazubi
It is true that Honda changed the Design of the engine to what Mercedes (and now also Ferrari) is doing for this season. But that is no excuse for the unreliability.
As for Sauber: It might be a smart move, because what are the odds that the engine still sucks in the 4th year? Especially now that the FIA wants to help them. I might be a little to optimistic here because I'd like to see them doing well but who knows?
And people tend to forget that they found an investor at the end of last year and hired a lot of staff (also from Audi LMP1 Team). It's not making them rich, but they have room for some improvement now. So 2017 is not important for them, they will focus early on 2018.
As for Sauber: It might be a smart move, because what are the odds that the engine still sucks in the 4th year? Especially now that the FIA wants to help them. I might be a little to optimistic here because I'd like to see them doing well but who knows?
And people tend to forget that they found an investor at the end of last year and hired a lot of staff (also from Audi LMP1 Team). It's not making them rich, but they have room for some improvement now. So 2017 is not important for them, they will focus early on 2018.
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The single cylinder concept worked for them but now it's a 6 cylinder it's having issues. Honda confirmed this. They said that the development of the new engine didn't start until the final 2 or 3 months of 2016. There's no doubt that is a big part of the problem. Honda needs to get it together. I fear by the time they do, the engine regs will change lol
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More on the Honda engine. http://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/f1/hondas-f1-troubles-explained/
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- TenEightyOne
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There seems to be an important question over whether or not BP have been able to provide the correct fuel - the engine was (we're told) designed around an Exxon mix. If it's the case that a reasonably-sized chunk of the problem is down to such a major sponsor as BP then that's a bubble which nobody will want to see burst.
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- Dennisch
If switching fuel solves the major issues Honda is having, someone out there deserves to be punched in the balls by everyone working in one way or another for McLaren.
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The ICE isn't the only problem, I think they are still lacking on the hybrid side, certainly in reliability.
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- mustafur
Not really, Mobil left them for Redbull, Mclaren can't be responsible for where a sponser wants to go.
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