Joest LMP1 2017

[TF110]

All they need to do is run the LM package for the first part of the season. If they are lucky enough they can get on the podium at LM.

[Maelochs]

To beat ByKolles all they need to do is not burn up.

[TF110]

Sounds like Kolles will be updating the car for next year with a possible new engine.

[carbsmith]

It was only a few years ago that Brawn won a Formula 1 World Championship with no sponsors on the car at the start of the season after Honda ditched them. Even though Honda ostensibly pulled out for imminent financial reasons and received 0 marketing value from the team in 2009, they still pitched in for around 40% of what their factory budget had been the year before on top of all the development and the 3-4 months of operating costs they paid for before the team was officially sold. (more specifically Honda had a budget of $400m in 2008, while in 2009 Brawn spent around $240m while receiving $150m from Honda. Honda also kept their Japanese R&D program running some time after they officially withdrew)

As as pure math exercise, if you applied those percentages to a generic $100m LMP1 budget you'd end up with only $20m to make up, which is somewhat in the realm of private team racing budgets. Less than Penske is presumably spending in IndyCar, for instance.

[Richard C]

I am not sure how the Honda/Brawn example is supposed to apply here. Honda basically walked away from a fully formed and staffed organization (minus the engine side plus or minus) and handed the keys over to Ross for nothing IIRC. In fact, as you say, Honda fully funded Brawn for quite awhile. Plus Brawn walked away with a pretty much fully formed silver bullet design, but still had their own tech staff (aero, etc) to get it ready to race. Also there was roughly a plug n play engine solution with Mercedes which arguable was better than the original Honda engine.

With all that going for them, as the season progressed Brawn was only barely able to keep their early lead as established teams were able to out develop them. Basically Brawn is a fairytale story that is unlikely to be repeated in our lifetime. Joest is nowhere close to that starting position to recreate that level of success. They don't have the money, staff, engine or a car (I guess the 2017 Audi could be a another Brawn in hiding, but we will never know)

Richard

[carbsmith]

The point is not to say Joest is going to win the WEC next year, it's to say that manufacturer withdrawals do not mean an instant reduction of spending and involvement to zero, and here is an extremely high profile example everyone will remember.