2022 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

Isn't pretty much everyone when it comes to it lol

In any case, my post wasn't for or against the takeover (Although I'd rather not be taken over), it's just pointing out the tone of the article and the fact that the conversations are at this point just starters, they are not detailed discussions or contract talks. They only need to sign an agreement for the engine first, they can buy the team at a later date if they chose to for Zak seemed very "Lassaiz-faire" about it all so we will see.

[ScottR267]

Surprised no sponsor announcements yet by the team

[JPower]

The thing with being owned by a big automaker is you can have your racing program killed at any time. Porsche and Audi are the 2 most successful le mans car makers of all time, guess who isn’t in top level LMP competition ATM?

I’d hate for that to happen to Maclaren!

I don’t object to getting VAG investment, as long as it’s not a controlling stake.

VAG is about as hands off as it gets. If Porsche and Audi cut their racing programs, its likely not a decision coming from Volkswagen. That's why Porsche is back at LeMans for next year.

I wouldn't have any fears around Audi taking a controlling stake. Their work turning Lamborghini into a viable brand has been excellent. Look at their racing efforts in 2000 vs their efforts now. No comparison. The Huracan is everywhere.

[FittingMechanics]

The thing with being owned by a big automaker is you can have your racing program killed at any time. Porsche and Audi are the 2 most successful le mans car makers of all time, guess who isn’t in top level LMP competition ATM?

I’d hate for that to happen to Maclaren!

I don’t object to getting VAG investment, as long as it’s not a controlling stake.

I understand where you are coming from but what is different to being owned by a Bahraini royal fund or whatever it is? They can decide to end the racing programme as well. It's not that different. Only reason why a royal fund may be less risky is that they don't really care about money but use money to fund their interests (football clubs, racing teams, ...).

McLaren's history is F1. I don't really see anyone buying a huge historic F1 team with a supercar factory and then decide to kill the F1 team. It is just bad marketing and investing.

Williams or other teams that don't have a supercar factory alongside are much easier to rebrand. You only lose history with the name, but you don't suddenly lose marketing of your supercars. This is also why I think that McLaren starting to produce road cars was extremely important for the long term future of the team.

[Macklaren]

Small companies with storied histories like McLaren need an anchor shareholder who will be committed for years like Mansour Ojjeh was. I think they need to make sure that VAG/Audi have that same approach and if not, Mumtalakat needs to be that anchor.

Separately though, the fact that Zak was joking about Porsche+RBR being more likely makes Mclaren+Audi seem like a done deal. Otherwise Zak would have been denying everything like they have been so far.

[genarro]

I just have a question. A lot of information is hovering about audi and Mclaren and I am just wondering. Would audi be really willing to change the name of the f1 team from Mclaren audi to just audi and thus ending the Mclaren name in F1?

[Jolle]

I just have a question. A lot of information is hovering about audi and Mclaren and I am just wondering. Would audi be really willing to change the name of the f1 team from Mclaren audi to just audi and thus ending the Mclaren name in F1?

So far, VW hasn’t really changed the names of companies they took over (apart from NSU). Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini, Porsche, Bentley, MAN and Bugatti still exist.

[ScottR267]

https://the-race.com/formula-1/the-unde ... 1-revival/

[diffuser]

I just have a question. A lot of information is hovering about audi and Mclaren and I am just wondering. Would audi be really willing to change the name of the f1 team from Mclaren audi to just audi and thus ending the Mclaren name in F1?

So far, VW hasn’t really changed the names of companies they took over (apart from NSU). Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini, Porsche, Bentley, MAN and Bugatti still exist.

It doesn't make sense that you'd buy an Iconic name, then do away with the name. They could probably resell the name...

IMHO, it isn't worth analysing this stuff to any great length. We really can only guess at what the possible reasons for Audi buying McLaren.

[Jolle]

I just have a question. A lot of information is hovering about audi and Mclaren and I am just wondering. Would audi be really willing to change the name of the f1 team from Mclaren audi to just audi and thus ending the Mclaren name in F1?

So far, VW hasn’t really changed the names of companies they took over (apart from NSU). Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini, Porsche, Bentley, MAN and Bugatti still exist.

It doesn't make sense that you'd buy an Iconic name, then do away with the name. They could probably resell the name...

IMHO, it isn't worth analysing this stuff to any great length. We really can only guess at what the possible reasons for Audi buying McLaren.

Well, it’s quite obvious why they, if indeed VW are, would consider it.
They probably see a gap in their portfolio, between the daily driver Porsche and the flamboyant Lamborghini, to market another piece of the high rollers. A kinda Audi R8 on steroids and with the right branding. Plus, McLaren, because the temp fall in the market because of the economy, is relative cheap (and just out/in of a bit of a pickle). Plus, they are in the position to add value to the brand/product without to much cost (in the same way they did with Lamborghini and Ducati).

So, why? It’s a very good mid/long term investment. Plus, it’s comes with a F1 team, which is always fun.

[diffuser]

So far, VW hasn’t really changed the names of companies they took over (apart from NSU). Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini, Porsche, Bentley, MAN and Bugatti still exist.

It doesn't make sense that you'd buy an Iconic name, then do away with the name. They could probably resell the name...

IMHO, it isn't worth analysing this stuff to any great length. We really can only guess at what the possible reasons for Audi buying McLaren.

Well, it’s quite obvious why they, if indeed VW are, would consider it.
They probably see a gap in their portfolio, between the daily driver Porsche and the flamboyant Lamborghini, to market another piece of the high rollers. A kinda Audi R8 on steroids and with the right branding. Plus, McLaren, because the temp fall in the market because of the economy, is relative cheap (and just out/in of a bit of a pickle). Plus, they are in the position to add value to the brand/product without to much cost (in the same way they did with Lamborghini and Ducati).

So, why? It’s a very good mid/long term investment. Plus, it’s comes with a F1 team, which is always fun.

You think if they buy McLaren, the don't inherit the debit? What is it 600M? Why not Alpine? They also have PU manufacturing ability? Or Haas, would be cheaper? You know whoever Audi buy, they might fire most of the employees and put their own structure in place? We also don't know something like maybe a VW high ranking officer's Son is a big Alfa Romeo fan and that's why they end up buying them instead of McLaren. Or maybe there is some big legal loophole in Italy and the buy Alpha Tauri? This is just stuff I'm making up but their might be reasons like this and more, that we're not privy to, as to why they'll make their decisions.

[Jolle]

It doesn't make sense that you'd buy an Iconic name, then do away with the name. They could probably resell the name...

IMHO, it isn't worth analysing this stuff to any great length. We really can only guess at what the possible reasons for Audi buying McLaren.

Well, it’s quite obvious why they, if indeed VW are, would consider it.
They probably see a gap in their portfolio, between the daily driver Porsche and the flamboyant Lamborghini, to market another piece of the high rollers. A kinda Audi R8 on steroids and with the right branding. Plus, McLaren, because the temp fall in the market because of the economy, is relative cheap (and just out/in of a bit of a pickle). Plus, they are in the position to add value to the brand/product without to much cost (in the same way they did with Lamborghini and Ducati).

So, why? It’s a very good mid/long term investment. Plus, it’s comes with a F1 team, which is always fun.

You think if they buy McLaren, the don't inherit the debit? What is it 600M? Why not Alpine? They also have PU manufacturing ability? Or Haas, would be cheaper? You know whoever Audi buy, they might fire most of the employees and put their own structure in place? We also don't know something like maybe a VW high ranking officer's Son is a big Alfa Romeo fan and that's why they end up buying them instead of McLaren. Or maybe there is some big legal loophole in Italy and the buy Alpha Tauri? This is just stuff I'm making up but their might be reasons like this and more, that we're not privy to, as to why they'll make their decisions.

Buying a company is basically paying off its debt. Just like when you buy a house, the previous owner pays off his mortgage with the price you pay.

As for why not alpine or AT, VW would be primary interested in the car business, not the F1 team. VW is in the business of selling cars (and motorbikes and trucks). This part of McLaren could make them a healthy profit and is scalable where the F1 team has a clear limit how much it can earn. Compare it with Ducati. They didn’t buy that for the MotoGP team but to make money selling more bikes. The MotoGP team (and in McLaren’s case the F1 team) provides heritage and marketing to the brand and thus adds extra value.
As for the PU, VW is one of the few companies that already has the facilities, experience and money to build a PU from scratch.

The timing would also make sense. They just went through a rough patch, but without much damage to the company. They didn’t had to stop development for to long or are in need of large investments for facilities. Plus, the current owners/investors would be willing to sell their debt/investment because they didn’t want to invest the last round of investments in the first place. Again, very similar to how they took over Ducati.

But, time will tell.

[Big Tea]

... You know whoever Audi buy, they might fire most of the employees and put their own structure in place? We also don't know something like maybe a VW high ranking officer's Son is a big Alfa Romeo fan and that's why they end up buying them instead of McLaren. Or maybe there is some big legal loophole in Italy and the buy Alpha Tauri? This is just stuff I'm making up but their might be reasons like this and more, that we're not privy to, as to why they'll make their decisions.

This more or less echoes my feelings, which is why I would be happy if Audi/VW never come near F1 in any guise.

[Stu]

It doesn't make sense that you'd buy an Iconic name, then do away with the name. They could probably resell the name...

IMHO, it isn't worth analysing this stuff to any great length. We really can only guess at what the possible reasons for Audi buying McLaren.

Well, it’s quite obvious why they, if indeed VW are, would consider it.
They probably see a gap in their portfolio, between the daily driver Porsche and the flamboyant Lamborghini, to market another piece of the high rollers. A kinda Audi R8 on steroids and with the right branding. Plus, McLaren, because the temp fall in the market because of the economy, is relative cheap (and just out/in of a bit of a pickle). Plus, they are in the position to add value to the brand/product without to much cost (in the same way they did with Lamborghini and Ducati).

So, why? It’s a very good mid/long term investment. Plus, it’s comes with a F1 team, which is always fun.

You think if they buy McLaren, the don't inherit the debit? What is it 600M? Why not Alpine? They also have PU manufacturing ability? Or Haas, would be cheaper? You know whoever Audi buy, they might fire most of the employees and put their own structure in place? We also don't know something like maybe a VW high ranking officer's Son is a big Alfa Romeo fan and that's why they end up buying them instead of McLaren. Or maybe there is some big legal loophole in Italy and the buy Alpha Tauri? This is just stuff I'm making up but their might be reasons like this and more, that we're not privy to, as to why they'll make their decisions.

The ‘Alfa Romeo’ team would make a lot of logistical sense for VW/Audi group; the team is really still Sauber, VW/Audi have a lot of experience with their facility (for LMP & Pikes Peak challengers - not to mention GT3. Location also works well for them as does the easy name change.

[Jolle]

Well, it’s quite obvious why they, if indeed VW are, would consider it.
They probably see a gap in their portfolio, between the daily driver Porsche and the flamboyant Lamborghini, to market another piece of the high rollers. A kinda Audi R8 on steroids and with the right branding. Plus, McLaren, because the temp fall in the market because of the economy, is relative cheap (and just out/in of a bit of a pickle). Plus, they are in the position to add value to the brand/product without to much cost (in the same way they did with Lamborghini and Ducati).

So, why? It’s a very good mid/long term investment. Plus, it’s comes with a F1 team, which is always fun.

You think if they buy McLaren, the don't inherit the debit? What is it 600M? Why not Alpine? They also have PU manufacturing ability? Or Haas, would be cheaper? You know whoever Audi buy, they might fire most of the employees and put their own structure in place? We also don't know something like maybe a VW high ranking officer's Son is a big Alfa Romeo fan and that's why they end up buying them instead of McLaren. Or maybe there is some big legal loophole in Italy and the buy Alpha Tauri? This is just stuff I'm making up but their might be reasons like this and more, that we're not privy to, as to why they'll make their decisions.

The ‘Alfa Romeo’ team would make a lot of logistical sense for VW/Audi group; the team is really still Sauber, VW/Audi have a lot of experience with their facility (for LMP & Pikes Peak challengers - not to mention GT3. Location also works well for them as does the easy name change.

If they were only interested in entering F1, yes, Sauber makes a lot more sense, especially since there is a good chance with PMI leaving, the Angelli’s going to put Alfa/Fiat back on the Ferrari. But, my reasoning is that VW isn’t interested in F1 but more in widening their growing portfolio of car brands. McLaren, as one of the last small independent car makers in Europe, fits that bill.