Quote:
Originally Posted by Paradise City
Customers should get last years car. They are already built and ready to go - so why not? Putting them to further use is more cost effective than scrapping them or just letting them sit in a museum. Customers get their own championship.
And if a customer wants to go constructor after a few years; they can do that, build their own car and move up to the constructors championship.
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That could be an option (last years car). Especially in the scenario I mention above in which a constructor could optionally provide a complete car. As you say the aero work is already done, etc. I do however think that in general top teams (i.e. Mercedes) will not want to let even last years car (especially if very successful) get out of their control. Yes they own the IP and may have NDAs in place to prevent customers from doing specific things, but anything "secret" on those cars will become effectively public once they become "customer" cars.
I could imagine slightly sanitized versions of last years car being provided. Cost of spare parts might also drive that. Imagine if Mercedes had a relatively complex and costly front wing. They may think that cost if fine for them, but maybe it might be two expensive to make on a regular basis for teams that break them.
Speaking along those lines, there has been no talk about cost of customer cars. Cost cap or just let them be as expensive as they may be and let the free market decide how much teams will spend on them? Again, if just the core monocoque and crash structure, I can imagine the cost not being particularity crazy. But create a rolling chassis and then add in bodywork it will add up.
This might also result in some expensive "track day toys" for a few really rich people. I think that the rules already require a specific bolt pattern for the power units, so someone could create a nice and less expensive (not not to F1 regulation) power unit for these cars.
Richard