HAAS-SRT F1 Team - Dodge (Powered by Ferrari)
I couldn't care less for all the supposed 'but it's branding'.
There have been 'Petronas' engines in F1 which were Ferrari engines for crying out loud.
Back in the day we also had Mecachrome, which in itself actually is like rebranded Renault engines,
so, pretty much TagHeuer like. and then we had Hart, which at a point was not much more than a 'tuner'
of Cosworth engines, which in itself could be seen as Ford engines.
Funny even more so, is that there was/is Ilmor, you know, started by Mario Illen, who stepped in to help
Renault and Honda in the past, but the engines Ilmor developed at one point in the 90's were, 'bought' by
Mercedes and rebranded as Mercedes engines, though in reality, they're not Mercedes, they're Ilmor engines.
Which would turn the team more correctly into Mercedes-Benz - Ilmor. Or before, Brawn-Ilmor. Which funny
enough, a few years before, was originally Tyrrell, which has also been powered by Ilmor.
Conclusion; nothing has changed, at all.
If it's true that today's customer engines aren't 100% the same as the same brand's 'works' engines, then it's really pretty fully the same as back in the day, as it means the customer engines are differently tuned. so no different than a hart engine compared to a cosworth engine.
The question in the end though comes to the main point of it all: does it make financially sense?
Would 'badging' Ferrari engines in a Haas as SRT/Dodge be worth it?
I don't have the figures but my gut tells me i don't think it is.
Dodge and SRT have no interest in europe, which is still the main focus point of F1.
Which is exactly why Haas started a F1 team - not for US exposure, but for european exposure.
And SRT has zero interest in europe, bar a handfull of enthusiasts, and dodge really doesn't at all either.
The US market hasn't got that much interest in F1 and as such, why brand an american team with a 'faux' american engine when they have nascar teams where you can actually find dodge and where there's a market.
instead, we now have americans taking an interest in an american team powered by FERRARI, yes, that european legendary brand. Which as such, has more potential to get american buyers interested.
to put it simple: Americans might become interested in Ferrari's because an American team is powered by that brand, compared to how no europeans will have interest in an american brand from a team they don't really have interest in that much anyway but that they make CNC equipment, which is HAAS target goal from the get-go.
If Haas was so interested in being so 'american', then they would have made sure they'd get an American sponsor on their car, not some weird phony stuff.
So in the end, as fun and interesting the idea sounds, and even though it's far from weird to do so, it doesn't make sense sponsorwise and financially, so that would be the plain and simple answer as to why it won't happen.
I think chances are bigger that Haas would contract Renault engines and brand them Nissan compared to the chances they'd brand their Ferrari engines as Dodge/SRT.
FIAT Chrysler have so many brands, it would be good to see them promoting more brands in F1.
