The F1 thread

Brio

Oh well, we'll soon find out. It would be fun though. 
Gulf and Porsche? As other said I'd be in it for the merch, and I never usually buy that kind of stuff. I'll prbably end up rewatching Le Mans tonight.

Cols

Unfortunately a bit of a damp squib.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cnexns0jgJO/

“Something big is coming” turned out to be nothing more than Porsche reshuffling the social media presence of their three factory programmes (TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E, Porsche Penske Motorsport and Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team) to be all covered by the same channel @Porsche.Motorsport (former Formula E) on Instagram.

Not exactly my idea of earth shattering news.

stickyfiddle

That was 100% not worth announcing 24 hours in advance

chillidoggy

Talking of Le Mans, anyone else going to the Le Mans Classic this year?

stickyfiddle

New Haas livery. Good looking racecar and no more russian flags!  

But those driver numbers are going to be hilariously impossible to see 

Boromedic

Looks good!

stickyfiddle

Yeah, I really like it. Almost giving Mansell Indy vibes, which was a Newman/Haas, but that's a different Haas! 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

It's ok. Has a whiff late-era Minardi or Hispania F1 car about it. Any redesign that includes getting rid of Russian flags has to be a positive step.

chillidoggy

Rumours kicking around that Ford has bought Red Bull F1.

stickyfiddle

I can't imagine Ford would buy the team. Maybe take a small stake and take over the engines? But surely no more after RB refused to give Porsche control.

Cols

The rationale given for the collapse of the Porsche deal was that they (Porsche) wanted to be involved in running the race team, whereas Red Bull only wanted them to be involved on the engine side.  

So a full buyout by Ford wouldn’t make sense (and those of a certain age remember Ford’s last F1 involvement as a team owner).

Indeed, the ill-fated Jaguar F1 project was bought by Red Bull when Ford lost patience and interest.  This was a few short years after the Ford CEO  glanced down the list of highest paid Ford employees and asked “Who the hell is Ed Irvine?”

My guess is that Ford are taking a minority stake in Red Bull, branding the engine and having manufacturer involvement from 2026.

stickyfiddle

So Ford are back and RB made a big splash about launching a car & livery that looks utterly the same as 2022. 

fretmeister

Ford will just be badging Honda designed engines then!

Cols

The FIA have also confirmed that Honda have signed up to be an engine supplier from 2026… but with who?

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Cols said:

The FIA have also confirmed that Honda have signed up to be an engine supplier from 2026… but with who?

Can't see many/any teams that aren't going to be formally linked to other engine suppliers for 2026 other than Williams maybe? 

Would love to see it, harking back to the old mid-late 80s heyday!

Boromedic

fretmeister said:

Ford will just be badging Honda designed engines then!

That's what I thought, seems a bit odd! Wonder if RB are balking at the costs involved and needed a partner? 

Boromedic

Anyway, 2023.... Any surprises? Will the fake penalty applied to RB make any difference? Can Lewis take an 8th? If Merc can build on the promise of the end of last season and they can fight, will the George/Lewis relationship deteriorate? Personally I'd love to see Charles take the Ferrari to the title, or McLaren and Lando make a run for it too. 

stickyfiddle

I think RB’s wind cap is likely to hurt them in 2024 more than 2023, but they’re already in front so the big question is how much and quickly Merc can catch up.

Ferrari will be interesting to see as they were quick in the early stages but with an unreliable motor so had to turn it down later in. Combined with endless strategy errors of course. Hopefully Vasseur can bring a bit more modernity in approach - good luck to him…!!! 

The Honda 2026 question is interesting. There are 4 teams it could be, barring new entries - McLaren, Aston Martin, Haas, Williams? None of those seem obvious to me. I guess McLaren & Haas would be most likely. One question I have is on the IP rights for the current Honda/RBPT engine - I thought Honda retained that, which would mean RBPT and Ford presumably couldn’t use it without paying Honda? 

Cols

stickyfiddle said:

One question I have is on the IP rights for the current Honda/RBPT engine - I thought Honda retained that, which would mean RBPT and Ford presumably couldn’t use it without paying Honda? 

Yes, Honda retain the IP for the ‘Red Bull’ engine.  They also assemble them and run the trackside operations and support.  As far as I’m aware there’s a development freeze until the 2026 reg change, so Red Bull and Ford can’t develop the existing engine.

chillidoggy

Good publicity if they manage to get “Ford” on the engine, or in the F1 credits somewhere, though.