It was announced on Wednesday (24/2/21) that Ferrari it will return to top tier of LMH class in 2023 with a full-factory assault on the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race and the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Ferrari has previous experience racing at Le Mans, including outright wins in 1949, 1954, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, and 1965. Ferrari's last Le Mans outing as a manufacturer came in 1973 finishing in second place.
Ferrari will go head-to-head with factory rivals Peugeot, Toyota, Audi and Porsche and with privateers Glickenhaus and ByKolles also set to join in the growing Hypercars category of Le Mans and WEC when the cars will introduce at the start of the 2021 WEC season.
Overall, it will be a very tough challenge ahead for Ferrari in 2023, challenging the likes of rivals Audi, Peugeot, Porsche and Toyota in technology and imagination.
With the recent news that both Red Bull teams will run Honda Power-Units till 2025, which means buying the Power-Units intellectual property from Honda re-branding them as Red Bull Power-Units for the next four years making them their own. Which means Red Bull has bought an engine manufacture of sorts.
This is not the last time a Formula 1 Team bought an engine manufacture. Back in 1997, Arrows bought Brian Hart Ltd., also known as Hart and Hart Racing Engines and thus Arrows became the first British F1 team to produce their own engines since BRM in 1977 for the 1998 F1 season after Arrows former engine partner Yamaha (prepared by Judd) withdrew from Formula 1 at the end of the 1997 season.
Arrows Team Boss Tom Walkinshaw explained the move as a chance to push the team's engineering further forward and to cut costs on paying for customer engines. However, Hart's budget was not enough to compete with the major car manufacturers of Ferrari and Mercedes, and it show with these two examples.
Car 1: 1998 Arrows A19
Story: Arrows A19 was designed by John Barnard and Mike Coughlan. The Arrows A19 used the Arrows 3 litre V10 producing around 700 bhp. The A19 was a good car ruined by poor reliability which include the gearbox and the Arrows engine itself. Also, the Arrows engines where slow, heavy, 100 bhp less then the leading Mercedes engines in 1998. Overall, the Arrows A19 took Arrows to seventh in the Constructors' Standings in 1998 with 6 points best result of fourth place finish for Mika Salo at Monaco.
Car 2: 1999 Arrows A20
Story: Arrows A20 was designed by Mike Coughlan and Eghbal Hamidy. The Arrows A20 used the Arrows 3 litre V10 producing around 715 bhp. The Arrows A20 was a mild update of the A19, which had not been too competitive itself during 1999. The slowest car on the grid during the second half of 1999 F1 season; just like 1998 the car was ruined by poor reliability again which include the gearbox and the Arrows engine itself once more. Just like 1998, the Arrows engines where still heavy, slow despite the improvement on 15 bhp, still 100 bhp less then the leading Mercedes engines in 1999. Overall, the Arrows A20 took Arrows to ninth in the Constructors' Standings in 1999 with 1 point best result of sixth place finish for Pedro de la Rosa at Melbourne.
By the middle of 1999, Arrows signed a deal with Supertec (re-badged Renault) engine to supply them with engines (70 bhp much better off) for the 2000 season ending the Arrows (Hart) engines in Formula 1 with better results.
Arrows having their own engines wasn't a bad idea, in execution it didn't work
Hopefully, the Red Bull V6 Hybrid Power-Units will do a much better job then the Arrows V10 engines from the late 1990s.
With McLaren returning to Mercedes Power-Units this season for the first time since 2014. I have already done a Top Six McLaren Mercedes F1 cars a few years back. This post is Top Six Worse McLaren Mercedes F1 cars.
Starting with number six:
Number 6: 2009 McLaren MP4-24
Story: 2009 McLaren MP4-24 was designed by Paddy Lowe, Neil Oatley and Pat Fry. The McLaren MP4-24 had the 2.4 litre Mercedes-Benz V8 engine underneath. McLaren MP4-24 was a very slow car during the first half on 2009, didn't pick up pace until the second half of 2009, when Lewis Hamilton took only two race wins at the Hungarian Grand Prix and the Singapore Grand Prix in that season. But the team only took 71 points to take 3rd place in the constructors championship.
Number 5: 2004 McLaren MP4-19
Story: McLaren MP4-19 was designed by designed by Adrian Newey, Paddy Lowe and Pat Fry. The McLaren MP4-19 had the 3 litre Mercedes-Benz V10 engine underneath. Just like McLaren MP4-24 before, McLaren MP4-19 was a very slow car and unreliable during the first half on 2004, didn't pick up pace until the second half of 2004 with the MP4-19B, when Kimi Räikkönen only took one race victory at the Belgian Grand Prix in that season. But the team only took 59 points to take 5th place in the constructors championship.
Number 4: 2014 McLaren MP4-29
Story: McLaren MP4-29 was designed by Tim Goss, Matt Morris and Neil Oatley. The McLaren MP4-29 had the 1.6 litre Mercedes-Benz V6 Turbo Power-Unit underneath. The McLaren MP4-29 only managed two podiums in 2014 at the first race of the season at Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix with Kevin Magnussen taking second place while Jenson Button finished in third place. McLaren MP4-29 took 181 points in that season and fifth in the constructor standings in 2014, so the McLaren MP4-29 was a reliable car and started fast but throughout the season the car started to go slow.
Number 3: 1996 McLaren MP4/11
Story: McLaren MP4/11 was designed by Neil Oatley, Steve Nichols and Henri Durand. The McLaren MP4/11 had the 3 litre Mercedes-Benz V10 engine underneath. The McLaren MP4/11 only managed six podiums in 1996, which includes a second place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix with David Coulthard behind the wheel. To give McLaren only 49 points to take fourth place in the constructors championship. The McLaren MP4/11 wasn't a fast car, but the MP4/11 was a reliable car nonetheless.
Number 2: 2013 McLaren MP4-28
Story: McLaren MP4-28 was designed by Paddy Lowe, Tim Goss, and Neil Oatley. The McLaren MP4-28 had the 2.4 litre Mercedes-Benz V8 engine underneath. The McLaren MP4-28 did not managed a single podiums in 2013 the first time for McLaren since 1980, with best results with just one fourth place finish for Jenson Button at the Brazilian Grand Prix. McLaren MP4-28 only took 122 points in that season and fifth in the constructor standings in 2013, so the McLaren MP4-28 was a reliable car just a slow car.
Number 1: 1995 McLaren MP4/10
Story: McLaren MP4/10 was designed by Neil Oatley, Steve Nichols and Henri Durand. The McLaren MP4/10 had the 3 litre Mercedes-Benz V10 engine underneath. The McLaren MP4/10 only managed two second place finishes for Mika Häkkinen in 1995 at the Italian and Japanese Grand Prix.
But the Mclaren MP4/10 did cause Nigel Mansell to quit from Formula 1 altogether as he was unable to fit properly in the narrow cockpit, and he was forced to miss the first two races of the season whilst a wider monocoque was built. His racing return lasted just two further Grands Prix before he left altogether, disgusted with the car's poor performance.
So the McLaren MP4/10 only took 30 points that season, the McLaren MP4/10 wasn't a fast McLaren at all and was much more of very unreliable McLaren then the previous McLaren MP4/9. To give the 1995 McLaren MP4/10 the worse McLaren Mercedes F1 car ever!
Hopefully the McLaren MCL35M won't be another McLaren MP4/10 this season.
It was confirmed on Monday (15/2/21), both Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri will run Honda Power-Units till 2025.
Honda has been affiliated with Red Bull since 2018, supplying Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri), then Red Bull Racing in 2019.
Honda announced last October that it will be leaving Formula 1 at the end of this season. But, Honda was consider to handing over the intellectual property for Red Bull to use the Power-Units.
Last week Formula 1’s key stakeholders approved plans for an engine freeze to come into force from 2022, resulting Red Bull using Honda Power-Units without the financial burden on Red Bull resources.
The Power-Units will be called Red Bull Powertrains Limited (Red Bull for short; although, renaming them after a sponsor may happen similar in-between 2016-2018 as TAG Heuer Power-Units), will operate out of Red Bull Racing base at Milton Keynes.
In my opinion, this is no major surprise that the news has happen; engine freeze coming into force from 2022, the financial burden on both Red Bull teams will be minimal.
Red Bull powered by Red Bull for the next four years at least.
It was confirmed yesterday (8/1/20) that Mercedes will retain Current Formula 1 World Champion Sir Lewis Hamilton through to the end of the 2021 Formula 1 season alongside Valtteri Bottas for the 2021 F1 season.
Hamilton's current Mercedes deal had already expired from last season and he had hinted that he was in no hurry to sort his future. But, Mercedes confirmed on Monday that Hamilton has signed a new contract covering this season.
Overall, a very good decision from Mercedes to keep Lewis Hamilton for this seasons. Although, I was surprise it took longer than usual with two months before the season starts.
Overall, the right choice for Mercedes going into 2021. 2022 a different story for Mercedes.
As the title says a Rolex 24 at Daytona Review of the race.
Konica Minolta Acura team won the race overall and Daytona Prototype international class too of Filipe Albuquerque, Hélio Castroneves, Alexander Rossi and Ricky Taylor in their Acura ARX-05, Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6.
While, ALLY Cadillac Racing team finished in second place in their Cadillac DPi-V.R, Cadillac 5.5 L V8; the team of Jimmie Johnson, Kamui Kobayashi, Simon Pagenaud and Mike Rockenfeller they were five seconds behind the leaders.
Meanwhile, Mazda Motorsports finished third place in their Mazda RT24-P, Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4; the team of Jonathan Bomarito, Oliver Jarvis and Harry Tincknell; they were seven seconds behind the leaders.
In LMP2 class (all cars using the Gibson 4.2 L V8 engine), Era Motorsport team of Paul-Loup Chatin, Ryan Dalziel, Dwight Merriman and Kyle Tilley in their Oreca 07 won LMP2 class. They finish in sixth place overall and they were twenty laps behind the leaders at the end of the race.
In GT Le Mans Class, Corvette Racing team won GT Le Mans Class and finished in eleventh place overall in their Chevrolet Corvette C8.R; with the drivers of Nicky Catsburg, Antonio GarcÃa and Jordan Taylor; they were thirty-seven laps behind the leaders.
In LMP3 class (all cars using the Nissan 5.6 L V8 engine), Riley Motorsports team of Scott Andrews, Oliver Askew, Spencer Pigot and Gar Robinson in their Ligier JS P320 won LMP3 class. They finish in seventeenth place overall and they were fifty laps behind the leaders at the end of the race.
In GT Daytona Class, HTP Winward Racing team won GT Daytona Class and finished in twenty-second place overall in their Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo; with the drivers of Indy Dontje, Philip Ellis, Maro Engel and Russell Ward; they were sixty-two laps behind the leaders.
