15/10/2020
NEWS STORY
All things considered, barring a return to Renault, with Mercedes having said it doesn't have the capacity to supply another partner, since Honda announced its intention to leave F1 at the end of 2021, acquiring the Japanese manufacturer's operation has appeared the most likely option, and speaking to Germany's Sport1, Helmut Marko admits that this is the team's preference.
"It's a very complex subject, as complex as these engines are," admitted the Austrian.
"We would favour, provided the talks with Honda are positive, that we take over the IP rights and everything that is necessary, to then prepare and deploy the engines ourselves in Milton Keynes," he admitted.
"But this is only possible on condition that the engines are frozen by the first race in 2022 at the latest," he added. "We cannot afford further development, neither technically nor financially. That is a prerequisite."
Running its own engines, according to Marko is preferable, because he believes that works teams will always get preference over customer outfits.
"All engine manufacturers have their own team and that means they develop the engine around their chassis," he said. "We would get something where we would have to adapt our chassis and our ideas secondary, and we would be confronted with a technical solution that we would have to accept.
"That's why the Honda solution is favoured," added. "Nevertheless, we are exploring all possibilities.
"According to the FIA regulations, every engine manufacturer has committed itself to supplying other teams. If something like this is to be a possibility for us, then it must fit the overall situation, and it must make us competitive. A happy forced marriage is not an issue for us."