Because Honda is pumping that money into their own engine program instead. This is the correct thing to do. "Red Bull Honda" is the goal here. It makes no sense to give $50m to Toro Rosso when you could be using that money to further develop the engine you need to convince Red Bull to partner up.Zynerji wrote: ↑05 Feb 2018, 22:16Why not? THey have the best atmosphere for outside-the-box development in all of F1.RonDennis wrote: ↑05 Feb 2018, 16:50STR only get's free engines. Honda isn't going to pay 50 millions for a team like STR.Talisman wrote: ↑05 Feb 2018, 14:17
I thought that Honda had specifically chosen NOT to transfer the cash they would have supplied to McLaren to STR.
It is also conceivable that Red Bull paid for the Renault supply from a central fund rather than through STR itself so its possible that Faenza won’t see a financial benefit from going from a customer Renault to a works Honda at all. Given there is little benefit for Red Bull beyond increased prize money from having STR perform well there would certainly be little incentive for them not to pocket the not insubstantial savings rather than use it to boost STR’s budget.
I truly believe that if STR had the money of RBR or Merc/Ferrari, they would fight for honest wins. I love this team's operating mentality.
As much as I love Toro Rosso, they're still a B team, and Red Bull has a specific function they want them to perform, which unfortunately does not include fighting for wins.
Think of it this way: If STR were to get a large injection of money from outside, and they have the talent in their staff to actually build a winning car, how far into lunch do you think Dietrich Mateschitz would get before arranging to transfer all that talent to the mothership?