More influence for Renault if Cosworth leaves F1?

Cosworth, which returned to F1 with the introduction of budget caps in 2010, could leave F1 by the end of next season. The British engine manufacturer was powering 4 teams at that time, the current Caterham, Marussia, HRT, and Williams, but with Caterham and Williams now powered by Renault, Cosworth is only associated with two teams, HRT and Marussia.

With the arrival of the 1.6L Turbo V6 in 2014, Cosworth could simply and purely leave F1 if we are to believe Jean-François Caubet, the head of Renault Sport F1, quoted by the site motorsport-total: “Cosworth is, without a doubt, finished.” The British engine manufacturer might indeed be tempted not to spend millions developing a V6 engine only to supply it to two F1 teams, which are furthermore at the back of the grid.

This could benefit Renault, which would like the regulations on engine supply to change. Currently, an engine manufacturer cannot supply engines to more than three teams – Renault having obtained an exemption to supply engines to four teams, Red Bull, Lotus, Williams and Caterham.

Jean-François Caubet told Autosport that the French engine manufacturer hoped to decide on its F1 strategy by September: « Today, we have four customers. I think we will keep these four next year because there is no reason to change. The problem is that we need to choose what our strategy will be for 2014. We have two options, to focus on two teams or to choose a larger number (of partners). In any case, the decision must be made this September because we need to decide what to do. »

Renault hopes to make its voice heard by the officials because this limit of three teams per engine supplier is no longer relevant given the current context, according to Caubet: What we want to know first is what the World Council’s position will be on the number of teams. We are very clear with Jean (Todt, President of F1) and we have spoken with Bernie that we need an open market because with the old regulations, it was fine (to have a maximum of 3 teams) because there was Ferrari, us, Cosworth, Mercedes, Honda, BMW, and Toyota. We have spoken with Jean (Todt) about this, and we believe that we need an open market, without limitation for 2014.»

If Cosworth were to leave F1, it would mean two more teams to supply engines for Ferrari, Mercedes, or Renault (or PURE if the project succeeds). The French engine manufacturer could therefore expand its F1 clientele and thus reduce the costs incurred by the development of the new V6 engine.

But the prospect of potentially seeing half of the grid being equipped by the same engine manufacturer does not please everyone. Craig Pollock, the head of the PURE project which hopes to supply F1 engines starting in 2014, told the site GPUpdate that it would not be a good thing: “I think there are several ways to look at it. Yes, it would give them far too much power in this sport and I am certain that Mercedes and Ferrari would not be very happy about it; furthermore, it would give them more feedback to develop their engines, so it would be an additional advantage.”

Pollock believes that beyond giving too much power to Renault, this situation could become problematic if the French engine manufacturer decides to leave F1 overnight. He even thinks that with the arrival of PURE, the cards need to be reshuffled: On the other hand, PURE will arrive in 2014, offering engines at lower costs. So why should the sport allow Renault to power six teams? It’s a very dangerous situation for F1 if that happens. When you have such a company, they can decide from one minute to the next and say ‘Well, that’s it, sorry guys – we’re leaving F1.’ Suddenly, you might have a situation where Mercedes and Ferrari would have to equip the entire field. This is not positive.