Williams Eyes RBR's Cosworth engines

By John Sharpe
March 14 2005

Currently there is speculation that Williams is in talks with Cosworth and that a contract could be in effect for as early as next year between the two! As I reported in one of my previous articles, there is a chance that BMW is seriously interested in buying Sauber after all.

Peter Sauber has said that he would be willing to sell the Formula One team but reported only to an established auto manufacturer. Credit Suisse Bank owns 65 percent of the Hinwil team and is looking to sell their stake as well.

Williams’ contract with BMW runs through 2009 but if the German auto giant does begin negotiations with Sauber, they would be willing to buy themselves out of the Williams deal.

So what does this mean for “our” Red Bull Racing team? It means that Christian Horner seriously needs to look at negotiating with Cosworth. The engine supplier is sitting pretty right now with a terrific engine that just powered Red Bull to an eye opening first round performance in Melbourne. Williams being a much bigger and well-established team could actually steal a plumb engine deal right from under RBR. Williams cars last raced with Cosworth engines back in 1983.

The 06 spec engine that Cosworth is developing, a 2.8 liter - V8, is said to be way ahead of the competition and Red Bull Racing would be keen to take advantage of an already formidable partnership.

Trading in a reliable engine that has vastly improved over last year and is only getting stronger would be disastrous for RBR. What Red Bull has going for it is a benchmark for Cosworth engineers and RBR to develop the next F1 charger. Cosworth more than proved their value and dedication to a team when they were powering Michael Schumacher to Drivers Championships with Benetton and the same could be done here with Red Bull. Red Bull Racing has a well-respected technical staff that has solved many of the issues from last years Jaguar. The information and data gathered this year would only serve a Williams team now in direct competition with Red Bull Racing.

The great thing about F1 is that there is always talk and speculation going on…the silly season never ends. However, frank Williams is an opportunist. You don’t last in F1 as long as he has by sitting down waiting for someone to knock on your door. If this is all true and Williams is definitely talking to Cosworth, then a deal could be struck anytime now, leaving Horner with few and not so favorable options.

I have said in previous articles that I am not a fan of controlling auto manufacturers who seem to invest more time in trying to get a fellow countryman into a race seat rather than work their butt off trying to power the current driver to victories. BMW has had probably the most powerful engine on the grid the last few seasons but it is not reliable. Toyota has the biggest budget in F1 but they seem to work backwards. Honda, a team with a storied F1 history has had issues with power plants exploding early on or late during a race.
Red Bull thought that they were being stuck with an under developing engine when they bought Jaguar and perhaps all this has caught them off guard. Cosworth has proven their worth.
Here is an engine developing more bhp than last year and will have another estimated 35 bhp by mid season to crank out around 935-945 give or take bhp. Figures are rarely given regarding engine outputs in F1.

All I know is this, Red Bull has a brilliant little package with a team busting themselves to death to create a fabulous engine. They are in the drivers seat and they need to act on the current situation, no matter how much truth there is to it. Doors close fast in Formula One and a Williams powered Cosworth will be even faster next year.

John Sharpe
www.racingbulls.co.uk
tayvan32@aol.com