The return of customer cars?

englishpremier

englishpremier

englishpremier

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Bernie would like to see 1 year old cars available to be leased by smaller teams. Some of whom might only run one car.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100562

One of Bernie's best ideas in my opinion.

It would give new teams the ability to learn F1 with an established car, producing their own updates etc.. before eventually designing their own.

There's mention that these cars could be piloted by rookies only, which would be a good idea if the cars proved a little too fast compared to other constructors.
 
Yeah HRT could buy last years Red Bull, how would that work when they keep moving the rules and goalposts? It would only work in a static rule series or the car you were buying would need to be changed to incorporate the new regs or remove the very things that made it fast in the first place.

Also why the hell would a team want to sell it's year old car and give others the opportunity to learn the hidden innovations that can't be seen. So in the end they would be buying a customer car with all the good bits removed, so pointless.

Unless you had a competition for the best customer car as well and the seller getting some of the money to give them an incentive to provide the best they could.
 
Well the details would definitely need to be sorted out like dannyjo22 said some teams wouldn't want to sell on their old cars as they are... but i guess there may be a way for them to start up secondary teams? That would certainly help with new drivers with lack of testing time.

I seem to remember Ferrari wanting to run a 3rd car? This might be a good way for them to do that.

Smaller teams like Sauber and Williams selling this years (decent) cars would help them gain money for future season too, which they can often struggle with.

The idea is pretty good if they can sort out the details.
 
He mentioned this a while ago regarding the new teams. He suggested they could run a customer car for the first 3 years and from then on had to build their own.

There are a lot of details that would need to be sorted, but I think it could be a better alternative to the current setup where the new teams have been firmly at the back for 3 years with no sign of moving forward.
 
Another stupid idea from Bernie, oh wait its concorde agreement time, next up sprinklers to add rain, shortcuts to help others catch up, a medal system rather than points, driver sharing etc etc

He does this every time.
 
Mr Men said:
Another stupid idea from Bernie, oh wait its concorde agreement time, next up sprinklers to add rain, shortcuts to help others catch up, a medal system rather than points, driver sharing etc etc

He does this every time.
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Please elaborate as to why you think it's stupid?

It's not too dissimilar to the way manufacturers lease bike to other teams in MotoGP so it's a proven model.
 
englishpremier said:
Please elaborate as to why you think it's stupid?

It's not too dissimilar to the way manufacturers lease bike to other teams in MotoGP so it's a proven model.
Click to expand...

Because it further dilutes F1 as the pinnacle of motorsport, hand me down cars so teams with no funding can run? F1 has bent over backwards and hand tied the top teams to let the likes of HRT run and it's done nothing for the sport. Why should the top teams spend their money designing cars just for teams with no money to have them?

Give the top teams 3 cars if need be, I would much rather see 3 Ferrari's, 3 Red Bull's, 3 McLaren's etc than year old cars under funded plodding around at the back.
 
I don't see a problem with it tbh.

But, Williams really don't like it. Which I find hilarious, as how did Williams start in F1? Oh yes, with customer cars. :D
 
Providing its limited to new teams only, I think it could work.

The biggest issue would be the fact the rules keep changing year on year so nothing from a previous year would be legal.
 
Mr Men said:
Because it further dilutes F1 as the pinnacle of motorsport
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The whole "pinnacle of motorsport" thing is a myth. When F1 was founded they used whatever racing cars were still left after the war. Customer cars have been allowed in F1 for far longer than they've been outlawed.
 
Morbius said:
The whole "pinnacle of motorsport" thing is a myth. When F1 was founded they used whatever racing cars were still left after the war. Customer cars have been allowed in F1 for far longer than they've been outlawed.
Click to expand...

60 years is a long time ago, F1 moved on greatly since it was formed and I would question that they ran with cars they just had lying around 6 years after the war? (http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=379&Itemid=237), what racing series would you suggest is the pinnacle of motorsport then?

F1 was formed before the war, but obviously delayed due to the conflict.
 
dont see how this could be a good idea in the way he is suggesting, flogging last years cars dosnt seem like the right way to go about it, i wouldnt have a problem with customer cars, however i feel it would only work if they were current spec cars. or even 2nd teams similar to Redbull/STR.
 
Funny how the dwarf pushes for cost cutting yet expects teams to supply customer cars at the same time. Ignore it, it's going nowhere.
 
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