Why doesn't Audi compete in Formula 1?
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Why doesn't Audi compete in Formula 1?
All major car companies (Ferrari, BMW, Mercedes, Honda, Toyota (2002), Renault and even Ford) compete in Formula 1. What's holding Audi back from competing in the world's premier racing championship?
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From: Gainesville, FL
The rumor is that Audi will be looking to F1 in another 2-4 years....
I've heard this rumor before, not sure if it is true at all, but they say that Audi's eventual plans are to be involved with F1 as an engine manufacturer (not chassis).
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Pool of qualified engineers and marketing plans
When manufacturer decides to be involved in any of the race series, it must decide on at LEAST following:
* Would success in the series promote the image of the company it is trying to promote? Or would other series or other investment serve as better way to promote its image.
* Are the engineers capable of designing competitieve engines (chasis if the company is going to be a chasis designer as well) available to be bought out? There are "select few" pool of F1 engineers who are capable of doing this. New teams almost always buy out these engineers from other teams. Honda is an exception. Your typical Honda engine may have been designed, at least partially, by former F1 engineers. Honda considers F1 as a training field for their up and coming star engineers. BTW, Mercedes engine is largely done by Ilmor engineers, and Ford/Jaguar engine is largely done by Cosworth engineers.
* Money???? Is the company willing/able to spend incredible amount of money?
So, Audi either has other ways to promote their image, don't want to use that much money, or don't see availability of qualified people to be competitive. That's my take on it.
* Would success in the series promote the image of the company it is trying to promote? Or would other series or other investment serve as better way to promote its image.
* Are the engineers capable of designing competitieve engines (chasis if the company is going to be a chasis designer as well) available to be bought out? There are "select few" pool of F1 engineers who are capable of doing this. New teams almost always buy out these engineers from other teams. Honda is an exception. Your typical Honda engine may have been designed, at least partially, by former F1 engineers. Honda considers F1 as a training field for their up and coming star engineers. BTW, Mercedes engine is largely done by Ilmor engineers, and Ford/Jaguar engine is largely done by Cosworth engineers.
* Money???? Is the company willing/able to spend incredible amount of money?
So, Audi either has other ways to promote their image, don't want to use that much money, or don't see availability of qualified people to be competitive. That's my take on it.
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The price of admission for an F1 team is something really ridiculous like $25M.
You gotta sell a whole lot of cheap cars like Honda or a handfull of really expensive ones like Ferrari.
The old addage applies....win on Sunday, sell on Monday. If it doesn't help the bottom line they won't make the expenditure.
The old addage applies....win on Sunday, sell on Monday. If it doesn't help the bottom line they won't make the expenditure.
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Only Ferrari, Ford (Jaguar) and Toyota (in 2002) own F1 teams. The others
primarily supply engines and maybe some $$$. Ilmor Engineering builds the so-called "Mercedes" engines for McLaren. The BMW, Honda and Renault F1 engines are factory works engines - built and designed by their own engineers. BMW actually rotates their production car engineers into their F1 program. What a great way to attract talented people and provide a path for F1 technology to more quickly spinoff into the production side. Ferrari is truly unique, since they are the only company that only makes high performance cars and everything they do is geared to that.
The cost of entry into F1 is astounding, and it doesn't guarantee success
The cost of entry into F1 is astounding, and it doesn't guarantee success
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