Last Updated on October 16 2024, 1:12 pm

The FIA push for more F1 power unit manufacturers has primarily failed with Audi in effect replacing the outgoing Renault which leaves just Red Bull-Ford as the net gain in numbers. The Porsche division of VAG had made much of the fact they wished to return to F1 but they failed to persuade Red Bull they would not interfere with the running of the team.

Yet there are other manufacturers lurking in the background and this weeks announcement of a collaboration between Haas F1 and Toyota raises the spectre of a return to the sport by the Japanese auto manufacturer since their departure at the end of the 2009 season.

The Haas F1 team boss revealed the team would continue with its current partnerships with Ferrari and Dellara although industry experts believes the racing arm of Toyota will assume some if not all of the Dallara manufacturing services currently provided to Haas.

 

 

 

Toyota/Haas hookup

Whether Toyota use this opportunity and their mothballed F1 facilities in Cologne to slip quietly back into F1 or not, only time will tell. Yet there is another auto-manufacturer who appears serious about joining the sport but for now their entry is on hold and subject to certain conditions issued by FOM.

Cadillac joined forces with the Andretti Racing Organisation in an attempt to become the eleventh team on the grid. Whilst given the green light by the FIA, FOM rejected the application on the basis that Cadillac were not ready to deliver the new specification F1 power units.

Andretti meanwhile believe they will have a car ready for 2026 having employed over 100 people at their Silverstone base headed up by Pat Symonds, ex-FIA technical delegate. The F1 hopefuls had an arrangement with Renault to fill the gap until Cadillac is ready with its V6 hybrid in time for 2028.

FOM refused to budge despite the Andretti agreement with the French auto manufacturer, who of course then announced after this year’s summer break they were withdrawing from Formula One.

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Cadillac acquire Renault F1 IP

Renault have made the decision their Alpine team will no longer be powered by French made power units and from 2026 they will partner with Mercedes. This has been seen as part of Renault extracting itself from Formula One with the probable sale of the Alpine team further down the line.

The Renault high performance power unit in Viry-Chatillon has already completed a significant amount of work for the 2026 power trains which until now appeared to be going to waste. 

However respected F1 journalist Joe Saward now writes that Cadillac have “recently acquired” the intellectual property rights to Renault’s 2026 engine, based on a “whisper” from a “very good source.”

This would appear to strengthen the Andretti-Cadillac application, particularly from the FIA’s position, given their failure to open the floodgates to auto manufacturers around the world. Of course whether FOM and the teams will agree is another matter.

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On the matter of the Cadillac acquisition from Renault Saward says: “This is entirely logical, although no-one is ever going to admit such a thing.” Joe cites when Honda left F1, Ferrari bought the rights to its V12 technology and of course there was Red Bull badging their Honda power unit the year the Japanese auto manufacturer decided to leave F1 – AGAIN.

Speculations on the new arrangement between Renault and Cadillac include there will be a complete takeover by the American giant of Renault’s entire F1 power unit programme, although this would require the separation of the Renault F1 programme from the other motorsport work undertaken in Viry.

The head honcho of Renault, Luca de Meo, recently claimed the Alpine F1 team is not for sale and as Joe reveals this is due to a contract made this year with ex-F1 team owner Flavio Briatore. The flamboyant Italian allegedly has an agreement with Renault to improve the fortunes of the ailing Alpine F1 team and he has until the end of 2026 to deliver.

“Then it will be sold to the highest bidder. Briatore is keen to improve performance and wipe out costs and his reward will come not in heaven (it is doubtful he’d make it…) but rather because he will take his percentage and Renault will get the rest,” Saward concludes.

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Cadillac export other F1 options

Meanwhile The Race commentator, Scott Mitchell-Malm, believes Cadillac and GM are exploring a different route into Formula One should the Andretti bid never get off the ground. He claims they’ve had talks with “at least one team who are already competing in the sport.”

Mitchell-Malm doesn’t state which F1 team or teams have been in talks with Cadillac, yet this could be a unsupported rumour designed to derail the relationship between Andretti and Caillac.

If GM did decide to buy an F1 team to compliment their own power unit production, Alpine are the obvious target now. Prior to the Haas/Toyota announcement the American F1 team would have been complimentary to Cadillacs marketing.

Renault’s Luca de Meo revealed part of the French organisations decision to pull its F1 power unit facility is because as a manufacturer running an F1 team there is no incremental prize money awarded.

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Renault boss blames FIA “hybrid” obsession

“The remuneration structure in F1 does not take into account the investments made by the manufacturer teams,” he explains. “So we spend more than the others, but we do not receive move. In the long term, F1 could, who knows, propose a technological simplification.”

De Meo appears to blame the FIA’s obsession with retaining the hybrid power units and believes they need to consider a different kind of future for F1 power. “Like imagining an engine without hybridisation, without electrification, which makes noise and runs on e-fuel for the green image.”

The Renault boss argues these engines could be produced at a fraction of the price and from a common platform. “Each manufacturer would keep 10 percent margin to adapt the engine. It will cost much less. It’s just a vision.”

“Haas F1 for sale”

 

 

 

Hybrid “Frankensteins” ridiculous cost

Mercedes committed a reported $1bn investment in R&D for the 2014 V6 hybrids. This included setting up a state of the art high performance power unit division, something De Meo bemoans.

“Let’s be clear, when you visit, and we did, a unit like HPP, the Mercedes engine factory, there are 900 people working there. There are 340 of us in Viry. They have test benches that we don’t have.

“The [F1] transition to the hybrid era required powerful investments that were underestimated at the time.”

This time around the F1 power unit manufacturers have a limited budget and bench testing time for the new 2026 power units, so no one manufacturer should steal the kind of march Mercedes did back in 2014.

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Horner HUGE hint over RBR 2025 driver lineup

Red Bull Racing have a new “magic floor” they are bringing to the USGP in Austin. The world champions are seeking to overturn the obvious car advantage which has seen McLaren reel in Red Bull and now the papaya liveried team leads by forty one points.

Yet Red Bull are facing a double dilemma. Of course the car is not working well given Max Verstappen’s eight race wins drought but even if Red Bull can fix the RB20, the question is whether Perez contribute enough to challenge the McLaren pairing.

“I think for all teams, Austin will be a natural time of the year to bring some new parts. We have something important, but I think Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren will also have updates,” said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner… READ MORE