New or used?

Never has caveat emptor been more appropriate than in the case of a ‘pre-owned’ F1 car

- MIKE BLANCHET

Amid the recent pro and counter-arguments concerning the possible sale of ‘manufacturer’ F1 cars to independent teams, be they the previous years’ redundant machines or new-season latest designs, there are a number of practical considerations that appear to be overlooked. There is logic in wanting to eliminate the R&D, design and manufacturing costs less well-financed outfits face in producing their own car. However, as always, the devil is in the detail, and there are a lot of devils that could happily undermine even the best-intentioned strategies.

Looking at the pre-owned (such a nicer description than ‘used’, don’t you think?) car sale route, the most obvious spoiler concerns regulation changes from one year to the next. Clearly, if these are major in nature then forget it. However, even relatively small changes can involve a lot of R&D and engineering work to accommodate, plus manufacture of the different components required. Cue the high expense subsequently incurred in the front wing rules change 2018 to 2019.

It is extremely unlikely the team selling will be able, or willing, to devote its own resources to any updates when it will be feverishly finalising the design and construction of next season’s weapon. Similarly, even if one assumes the car deal includes a large spares inventory, there is the problem of ongoing supply of parts. The buyers will, therefore, have to do their own thing, either in-house – which means still needing to possess a high level of engineering, aero capability, and facilities – or by paying outside specialists and contractors.