Honda team and Midland threatened by V10 pace

By Phil Huff
February 15 2006

Midland F1 have been complaining about Scuderia Toro Rosso's use of a Cosworth V10 engine in 2006, but the Honda powered outfits could also suffer, with Super Aguri F1 at serious risk of being outperformed by the renamed Minardi team.

The FIA have specified 2.4 litre V8 engines for 2006, but the Minardi team were exempted from that for financial reasons, opting to run a restricted V10 engine. However, the torquey engine characteristics of the V10 will allow the car to perform unusually well at tight twisty circuits, such as Monaco, while the current restrictions also leave the engine with more power than the new V8's.

With Minardi now being owned by Red Bull, the financial problems at the Italian team are lessened, and Midland are keen to force the Toro Rosso team to run a new V8 engine.

Speaking at the launch of the Midland M16, the team's managing director Colin Kolles said of the STR car "The car is not legal. That is the point. It is very clear. This engine does not belong in Formula One any more. It is not the regulation. It has been accepted due to a financial reason for Minardi and this is not any more the case."

The FIA are keen to ensure parity, restricting both the rev limit and air intake sizes of the V10 engine, but that doesn't impress Kolles. "It is not a question of making the engines slower," he explained. "It is a question that the regulations state a V8 engine, and not a restricted V10 engine. They are expecting to be competitive. To be honest, for me it is a shame."

Honda Racing F1's Nick Fry shares some of Midland's concerns, telling Autosport.com "We have to wait and see if the equivalency formula is fair. At the moment, those running V8s feel that the restriction is a bit too generous, so we need to find out what is the exact figure. I know there are tests being done and we're just leaving it to the FIA to determine what is fair.

"Max Mosley and Charlie Whiting made it clear that they would adjust the equivalency formula if necessary at 24 hours' notice. They always said the figure may change, because they want to make it fair. So at this stage we'll just leave it and see what happens."

Honda turned down the opportunity to perform comparative tests for the FIA, allowing arch rivals, and Midland's engine supplier, Toyota to carry them out instead.

"Toyota volunteered to do tests, explained Fry. "We could have done it too, but we chose not to, and we're comfortable with that. Midland did the test at various levels and already presented the data to the FIA. The FIA will now make a decision. Hopefully it will come out fair – fair to everybody. That is all we ask."

The comparison undertaken by Midland appeared quite conclusive, with Tiago Monteiro explaining "We did a big V10/V8 comparison and I was 0.7s quicker with the same car with a different engine. So for me, it's totally unfair that they use the V10 - at the moment the V10 is seven-tenths quicker. So if the rules stay like that, initially Toro Rosso will definitely be quicker than us."

With Super Aguri starting the season with a 2002-specification car, albeit updated to 2006 safety and aerodynamic requirements, mated to a V8 engine, it would appear that the Leafield based team will initially struggle for any kind of respectable pace.