Ex-Ferrari staff gives Aston Martin "capability" for F1 project
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/asto ... ri-965986/
Anyone got any opinion on the viability of an Aston Martin F1 engine project? Even in cooperation with Cosworth, I'm doubtful they will be able to develop a competitive engine, and here is why:
Being competitive is not solely about absolute performance, it is also about timing. Reaching a performance milestone is only advantageous when reached at the same time or earlier than the competition.
When the 2021 engine regulations are decided on October 31, 2017, the big manufacturer teams like Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault will have a team on stand by to instantly start developing a concept suitable for that set of regulations. Actually, it's very likely that they already have researched and defined several concepts suitable for the most probable set of regulations. After the regulations are published, these manufacturers will quickly transition towards putting their entire budget of resources into the new project.
Aston Martin & Co will on the other hand have to decided first if they want to participate, and define who their partners will be and put that into contract. They will likely start the project with a skeleton team compared to their emidiate rivals and wont be at full strenght, engineering-wise until probably late 2018. Aston Martin & Co will not only be at an overall resource deficit, they will also lose crucial time in the early stages of the project.
Mercedes will know all too well that starting early and having a mature engine package from day one is crucial. Given the highly advanced state of their unit, they will be able to re-direct massive amounts of resources into the new project early.
The time between regulation publication to first race is relativly long, but Aston will need to be quick in making a decision to invest. Wait, and it will be too late.