RE: rumour of audi in f1

[Tom Haapanen <tomh@metrics.com>]

For what it's worth, Renault also had considerable success building the
complete car in the 1980s.

Williams has signed a deal to run Mecachrome (ex-Renault) engines for
the next two seasons, so BMW won't be supplying engines there anytime
soon.

-----
Tom Haapanen -- Software Metrics Inc. -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
A Microsoft Solution Provider Partner -- http://www.metrics.com/


>-----Original Message-----
>Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 17:08:48 +0012
>From: Dave Eaton <dave.eaton@minedu.govt.nz>
>Subject: rumour of audi in f1
>
>to add (some) substance to the rumour, the 'audi is negotiating to purchase
>the benneton f1 team' rumour was repeated on espn2 during monaco qualifying
>and during the race itself...
>
>i wonder if audi is prepared for the commitment required?  only fiat have
>proven that they can do chassis and engine in f1.  bmw is strongly rumoured
>to be going to announce an engine deal with williams for 1999 and beyond, and
>mercedes (aka illmor) is of course the engine supplier to mclaren - so there
>is strong reasons for vw's premium brand to be represented at the top level
>of the sport (also due to the profile of the sport in germany due to micky
>i-also-walk-on-water schumacher, brother ralf and hh frentzen).  purchasing
>an existing team would also seem to be a sensible move.
>
>on the positive side, renault will continue to supply engines to benneton by
>proxy next year which gives audi 18 months to get their engine up to speed
>(absolute minimum at this level of the sport i suspect - bmw says 2 years).
>
>