Prodrive - McLaren talks collapse

SO,

According to Autosport.com talks between Prodrive and McLaren over the Banbury-based company running the Woking-built cars next year have collapsed.

A source informed the website that McLaren COO Martin Whitmarsh told staff at the factory that the team are no longer in negotiation with Prodrive.

The issue over the legality of customer cars under the 2007 Concorde Agreement was not under question, as the regulations clearly stated that all teams must run a unique car of their own construction, to which they own the design rights. However, the suggestion was put forward that for 2008, constructors would be allowed to sell chassis as well as engines to other race teams, and it was on these terms that Prodrive lodged their entry for F1.

But now that the '07 rules may be rolled over into next year, Prodrive may not be legally allowed to run customer cars, and the delays over sorting this out have contributed to McLaren supposedly ending talks.

So the question is, if Prodrive are informed that they will be allowed to run another constructor's car next year, what happens next?

I believe that if it is possible, McLaren will seek to run a second team. After all, they tried so hard in early '06 (when the FIA took entries for the 12th slot on the F1 grid) to get the Jean Alesi fronted 'Direxiv F1' onto the grid as an official McLaren 'B' team.

And if after that has failed Prodrive offer the same possibility then why shouldn't McLaren take it?

As it stands McLaren Mercedes are the one of only two manufacturers who have no links with, and supply no parts to other teams and when it was revealed that Prodrive was searching for a partner team, they were the ones out of the three favourites who seemed the most keen to establish a second team.

But now, if as Autosport has been informed, McLaren are no longer interested, then surely Prodrive will turn to the other two options it supposedly chased up originally.

BMW and Renault.

If this becomes the case then surely BMW would be the better option, as it’s cars are clearly more competitive than those of the French manufacturer at the moment, and unlike Renault, they would have no third group that they are providing with engines (Red Bull Racing) to offer a distraction.

However this whole saga is reliant on the outcome of the Court hearing on October 24 which will decide the legality of customer cars in Formula One for 2008, and therefore whether or not Prodrive will feature on the grid next year.

Will chassis sharing be allowed? That’s a total 50-50 call.

But if it is (and providing there is no skeleton-in-the-closet between them that has yet to be revealed) then I really wouldn’t be surprised if McLaren are still the team that Prodrive link up with for next year.

Four McLaren’s on the grid?

Sounds like a Jean Todt nightmare…

Next customer please...

Prodrive, who own Aston Martin and run their Le Mans programme and Subaru’s WRC cars, now have to wait until October 24 to find out if their plan to run this year's McLarens in the 2008 Formula One Championship is a possibility.

The problem has come due to an intervention from Williams, who have questioned Max Mosley over the legality of the cars, despite the preliminary '08 regulations stating that 'customer cars' will be permitted next year.

In a statement today, Prodrive boss David Richards said: "We are in no doubt that the sporting regulations for the 2008 Formula One Championship clearly allow the use of customer cars, which is why our entire F1 proposition has been based on this fact since the outset.”

But as discussions over a new-for-2008 Concorde Agreement are still on-going and look likely to not be finalised before the end of this year, the current regulations governing the sport (which do not allow 'customer cars', ie, those purchased from another team) could be rolled over. This leaves the possibility that Prodrive's plans may yet be deemed illegal for '08

SO,

The understandable issue being raised by Team Willy is that as a customer team, Prodrive may not be able to run McLaren's next year under the current regulations, but if they are permitted to, then they should at least be unable to score Constructors Championship points as they are - by definition - not a constructor.

And, to some extent, they have a point.

The Formula One Constructors Championship has been in place since 1958, and I think that allowing a ‘race team’ not a constructor to score points is neither fair nor sporting.

Of course, the fact that they would be running the current batch of McLaren Mercedes' MP4-22s, a car which has shown itself to be the arguably the fastest and undoubtedly the most reliable in this year's championship, could mean that Prodrive's outfit are potentially point-scorers from the outset.

However, it is a tad hypocritical for Frank Williams to suggest that running some-one else’s cars is unfair, as his Williams team ran Henri Pescarolo in a year-old March 701 purchased from the French car builder in 1971. His team was eligible for Constructor points, though the car wasn’t quick enough to get any.

So maybe Frank needs to have a bit of a think before he starts getting funny about new teams not being constructors, as this was a situation he benefited from hugely in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.

We shall have to wait three weeks for the International Court of Appeal to decide the legality of Prodrive’s intentions to run another constructor’s cars next season, and whether or not Britain's newest F1 team will be on the grid next year.

But if Prodrive's appeal is granted in their favour, some of the sport's 'Old Boys' may have to face watching their cars trail home a repainted McLaren Merc, whether they like it or not!

And whether or not Frank is being hypocritical, I don’t want to see it either. Now Aston Martin F1…

That would be a different story.