Where do you think Prodrive will be at in terms or performance next year?

In the gravel, its what they are best at.

Quote from Mustafur :

Where do you think Prodrive will be at in terms or performance next year?

if they have the mclaren customer car (is this confirmed by the way?) theyll be pretty much just below where BMW are about this year. Fast car, but severe inexperience.

Quote from DeKo :

if they have the mclaren customer car (is this confirmed by the way?) theyll be pretty much just below where BMW are about this year. Fast car, but severe inexperience.

You forgot they were responsible for the BAR Honda (according to Clarkson)?

I guess there will be 6 Ferraris on the grid next season.

Prodrive will do very good imo. They dont lack experience and should get a good car next season.

I reckon they will be about the same as BMW, they have had alot of success in motorsport

Could get some good battles in the midfield runners in 08..Prodrive,BMW,Renault,Williams and maybe Redbull and Honda if they Fix the mess they got themself in

Quote from bbman :

You forgot they were responsible for the BAR Honda (according to Clarkson)?

Forgot completely all about that actually, Above BMW then, just shy of mclaren

I think they will do quite well. Isn't Mr Richards running the team? When he was at BAR Honda they were actually quite fast but then when they got rid of Richards and Honda bought the whole team they went sucky...

I feel though they will be quick.

Quote :

Prodrive has been confirmed as one of the 12 teams which has gained entry to the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship.

While this will be the first time Prodrive competes in Formula One, David Richards and his management team have extensive experience of the series having managed the BAR F1 team from 2002 to 2004 – taking it to second place in the 2004 manufacturers’ championship. David Richards was also team principal for the Benetton F1 team in 1998.
The FIA is introducing new regulations for Formula One, which will come into effect for the 2008 season. Richards said: “We are confident that the new regulations will not only allow Prodrive to be competitive on an affordable budget, but will also make Formula One more exciting and, ultimately, even more entertaining for spectators and TV audiences around the world.”
Prodrive has already made plans to house its Formula One team in a new purpose-built operation in Warwickshire. This is part of a larger development to support the UK’s automotive and motorsport industries and is still subject to planning permission. Should this be granted, construction would commence at the end of this year. In the meantime, Prodrive will run the F1 programme from its existing facilities.

from the prodrive site

....oops

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/63182

ah, were spyker was at the start of the season with a bit of Torro Rosso's dry weather reliability(from when Scott Speed was around).

Quote from ATC Quicksilver :

....oops

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/63182

Shame for Gary Paffett.

no surprise to see williams behind the call for the hearing, i've always admired williams's achievements but as they've fallen away from compwetiveness they seem to be becoming more and more bitter towards any other team that may ovetake them, this season they and spyker have been chasing super aguri and torro rosso about the design rights to the cars, now this is understandable for spyker but williams should be able accept the challenge, rather than trying to get them penalised

No, it's quite understandable. Williams aren't in the same boat as the other teams. It's the only team that is still run like a classic race team with Frank and Patrick as the owners, Toyota as engine suppliers and all money coming from sponsors. All the other teams are owned, run and financed by massive cooperations that are throwing bucketloads of money at their teams without any hope of making a profit.

In short, Frank hasn't sold out (yet), so his team's situation really isn't comparable to the others.

I agree with JB. Frank's team is still designing its own car each year, so why should he risk finishing behind other teams in the contructor's championship who have had their cars given to them?

Actually, if it's OK for Toro Rosso to have Red Bull tech on their car, and Super Aguri to have Honda tech on their car, then why did McLaren get a $100M fine for trying to put Ferrari bits on their car?

I don't really want customer cars. In their day they were useful, because budgets were small, and customer teams were tiny. It was rare for customer teams to do particularly well (but not unknown).

But these days, will mega-budgets, huge exposure, and vastly more complex cars, I think that it should be a constructors only sport. STR and SA are breaking the rules in my book, and I think Williams has a good point.

If customer cars were only allowed to be used if they were last years cars or earlier (in the case of rule changes then customer teams will be required to modify last years car, not default to the current car), then I might agree. But I don't want McLaren to have a 4 car entry, which is what the current Prodrive deals seems to amount to.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Actually, if it's OK for Toro Rosso to have Red Bull tech on their car, and Super Aguri to have Honda tech on their car, then why did McLaren get a $100M fine for trying to put Ferrari bits on their car?

Because it's still a bargain - I bet Super Aguri pays more for for the Honda tech.


EDIT:
And yet again by the time I pressed that damned submit button there's a Tristan post right above mine...

Totally agreed with Tristan! I'm not entirely happy with the current STR/SA situation since they seem to be exploiting a loophole in the current regulations.

A true customer chassis with current-spec parts would be a disaster for F1, which is, and always should be, a constructors' championship.

It seems like a very short-term idea designed to get more teams into F1. Frankly, I don't care how many teams there are, since once you go over 8-or-so, most of them are only fighting over who doesn't finish last. However, it's a whole lot easier to buy current-spec cars from a leading constructor than it would be to build your own cars, so if this goes ahead I see it as the beginning of the end for the true 'constructors'.