2017 F1 Constructor technical info/developmentFormula 1 

Touring Mars
Mercedes customer engine are true, then McLaren must be in dire straits indeed...
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But... McLaren don't have the option of a supplier that doesn't have a Works team. Except Honda, and their works team would have a really crap engine :D

Tapping up Mercedes might only be the first of three contacts, of course... but if one had to pick a supplier that made sense for McLaren it would be Mercedes, better the devil they know.
 
Touring Mars
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...
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We of course cannot see behind the scenes into what these technical partnerships look like, but I have to believe the whole "Building the car around the engine" concept is going to always favor a works team or a team with significant input.

Certainly Brawn would fit into the camp you describe. They might be the last non-works team to win. At that time, McLaren would have been the closest thing to a Mecedes works team.

The question becomes whether that's the case due to the works teams also having the largest budgets, or other factors.
 
Dotini
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?
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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.
Touring Mars
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...
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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.

TenEightyOne
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.
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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.
 
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LMSCorvetteGT2
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.
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I've seen several reporting that "contact with a view to supply" has been made. Without wishing to head into conspiratorial territory it's not unthinkable that, if untrue, McLaren themselves are behind the rumour. More impetus for Honda to pull their socks up.
 
TenEightyOne
I've seen several reporting that "contact with a view to supply" has been made. Without wishing to head into conspiratorial territory it's not unthinkable that, if untrue, McLaren themselves are behind the rumour. More impetus for Honda to pull their socks up.
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Talking to others doesn't mean anything and the only benefit of McLaren starting a rumor would be similar to RBR doing it back in 2015, to put a fire under the manufacture. As you've said. If not then it's just good ol' British press doing what they do best, supporting their national treasures no matter what.
 
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Jimlaad43
To be honest, that wasn't the best thing Nico could have said there. Force India may have bantered back, but it won't have gone down well with his former colleagues.
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Considering he basically just insulted Force India's primary sponsor as well, I imagine his own team's sponsors aren't exactly chuckling either. The people who write the checks tend to get very sensitive about that kind of thing.

Not that I expect Nico's going to get sacked over Twitter sass, but I do think someone's going to sit him down and tell him Don't Do That.
 
If you check that new Force India's main sponsor site (BWT) like I did, you'll notice that pink has nothing to do with their communication strategy. It's all blue and white, not a single dot is pink. The strategy is clear, what is the most effective color to attract attention in a strict and "masculine" environment like F1? Almost certainly it's pink, especially if you want to reach people which are not into F1 at all. That's also why Force India had some banter on Twitter with the Palermo's football team account, because their kits are pink and black. So, since attention is all they want and it doesn't matter if it's positive or negative, I think they're not that mad at Hulkenberg.
 
marco89IT
If you check that new Force India's main sponsor site (BWT) like I did, you'll notice that pink has nothing to do with their communication strategy. It's all blue and white, not a single dot is pink. The strategy is clear, what is the most effective color to attract attention in a strict and "masculine" environment like F1? Almost certainly it's pink, especially if you want to reach people which are not into F1 at all. That's also why Force India had some banter on Twitter with the Palermo's football team account, because their kits are pink and black. So, since attention is all they want and it doesn't matter if it's positive or negative, I think they're not that mad at Hulkenberg.
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Google is your friend. But I do agree that they could have communicated the reason for pink better to a new and wider audience.

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edit:// they deleted it, here's a tweet from the official McLaren Formula One account:
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My guess is the old/new tweet was related to this:



But looking at how prominent the Merc logo is I guess they decided it was a bad idea considering the rumour going around.
 
marco89IT
If you check that new Force India's main sponsor site (BWT) like I did, you'll notice that pink has nothing to do with their communication strategy. It's all blue and white, not a single dot is pink. The strategy is clear, what is the most effective color to attract attention in a strict and "masculine" environment like F1? Almost certainly it's pink, especially if you want to reach people which are not into F1 at all.
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I fear your certainty is misplaced. While the corporate top end is blue-out-of-white certain of their products are marketed in pink boxes with pink bits and pieces built in.

Gourmet-Mg2-oval-3pack_d.png
 
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BLADErunner80
You probably already seen this, but for those that haven't here is possibly the best combination of sight and sound.

We can dream!
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Yeah it was posted in the testing thread, because people can't seem to get around the idea that things move on. Sure someone could post overlay of a repco v8, dfv, 4cylinder BMW/megatron as well.
 

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