"THE obscene spending blitz continues at the BMW-Sauber F1 team".

[emjaya]

A little info on the BMW-Sauber team in my daily Murdoch today, the main points;

The squad has unveiled its new super computer called Albert 2 that has a main memory capacity of 2048 gigabyte, it's 5.5 times faster than its predecessor Albert.

Through the year the team covered 43,659km in test miles alone.

They rolled out nine F106 chassis with six used in races.

The No. 1 chassis built was used exclusively in the wind tunnel while No. 6 and 7 were used for testing.

Five new aero packages were introduced on the cars but all told there were 37 major downforce developments in one form or another.

Yeah, that engine freeze idea is really going to slash team spending, Max. :rolleyes:

If BMW went to all this effort and were crap, then how much did Renault and Ferrari do to get the results they did?

The full article here (http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,20980980-10389,00.html)

[jonovision_man]

It's all about the value of winning, and in F1 the value of winning is very high indeed. The embarassment of losing for a car manufacturer is bad optics.

They'll continue to spend tens of millions shaving off tenths, it's the nature of the beast.

jono

[RusH]

Will Robert Kubica be able to operate Albert 2?:gomer:

[Andrew Longman]

I still fail to see the logic of BMW (or any manufacturer) investing in F1, especially at these levels, when they can't invest in the one thing they actually make: engines. The engine freeze seems to be a huge disincentive for manufacturers to participate.

Add to that the risk that they become stuck at the back of the grid with an uncompetitive engine for years on end and I couldn't sell that to stockholders. Pay hundreds of millions of dollars to advertise to the world that you are slower than your competitor with little chance of fixing it? I don't get it.

[oddlycalm]

Pay hundreds of millions of dollars to advertise to the world that you are slower than your competitor with little chance of fixing it? I don't get it. It does seem counter intuitive, but I'm left to assume the mfg's feel the engines are close enough for the situations to be workable. While one may be down slightly on power it may, as in the case of Renault, enjoy other advantages such as size, center of gravity or reliability. I doubt any of them are so far adrift that the disadvantage couldn't be made up in some other manner.

I'm not at all clear on what the freeze ruling does to address potential new entries. Freezing a new engine during it's early revisions would be a serious disincentive. On the other hand, allowing a new engine too long to develop would seem to threaten the other teams...

Can't wait to see how the power recapturing braking systems add to the mix...:rolleyes:

oc

[eiregosod]

the mechanics of engines are obsolete. the electronics and the control system is where its at :tony:

I'm sure the accountants thought that it would be fabulous to close down the engine fabrication shop and invest the money elsewhere. I have some experience with tech companies that close down subsidiaries , what will happen is that the manufacture of the F1 engines will be documented into binding folders and be left on a shelf in the utility room. The expertese is lost and I doubt if the manufacturer's lobby will be too enthused to rssurect their engine programs.

I can see a distant relative of Hermann Tilke supplying engines for f1 teams in the years2012/3/4/5

[STD]

I can see a distant relative of Hermann Tilke supplying engines for f1 teams in the years2012/3/4/5

Briatore's family already beat him too it.
Tilke's family future is in no bid circuit design.

[pchall]

I'm not at all clear on what the freeze ruling does to address potential new entries. Freezing a new engine during it's early revisions would be a serious disincentive. On the other hand, allowing a new engine too long to develop would seem to threaten the other teams...

oc

I wonder how the freeze might apply to anyone who picked up the Cosworth program?

[Ruben Barrios]

I still fail to see the logic of BMW (or any manufacturer) investing in F1, especially at these levels, when they can't invest in the one thing they actually make: engines.

The only one that really has close ties to "win on sunday... sell on monday" is Ferrari.... yet they sell all year long...

They make their own engines...