The Return of Cosworth: An F1 Legend Screams Again

On June 4, 1967, Jim Clark won the Dutch F1 Grand Prix in a Cosworth-powered Lotus. That was Cosworth's first F1 win, and they went on to become the most successful engine builder in F1 history.

Numerous F1 world champions were propelled to victory by Cosworth engines. Jim Clark, James Hunt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Jackie Stewart, Mario Andretti, Kiki Rosberg, Jochen Rindt, Alan Jones, Graham Hill, Nelson Piquet; all of them were Cosworth-powered F1 champions.

Michael Schumacher scored his first F1 victory in 1992 and his first world championship in 1994 with a Cosworth engine screaming behind him.

A fabulous history, then, but what can they do now? Is their glory of another day?

We'll know soon enough.

For the 2010 F1 season no less than five teams will be using Cosworth engines, so if all those teams actually run, Cosworth engines will be the most numerous on the grid. Bernie Ecclestone does not believe all those teams will run, he does not believe they all have the finance to, and he may well be right.

The Edge

Before looking at the Cosworth-powered teams, it may be worth asking if an engine can give an F1 car that winning edge.

In 1968, there were three teams using Cosworth engines; they won all but one grand prix and finished with the top three championship places. That was not coincidence, it was a demonstration of Cosworth's absolute supremacy at the time.

In the current era of F1, engine development has been severely restricted by the FIA, which has had the intended effect of equalising power outputs. It is no longer possible for an engine to give a team a decisive edge, and we saw that in the 2009 season.

The most successful driver, and thus the champion, was Jenson Button in a Mercedes-powered Brawn car. Behind Button, second in the championship, was Sebastian Vettel in a Renault-powered Red Bull car.

Yet the highly-rated Fernando Alonso finished a long way down the rankings, despite being Renault-powered, and Mercedes engines did not elevate Force India to the top rank.

An engine does have to be reliable, for a string of DNF's will scupper a driver's ambitions for certain. And because there will be no in-race refueling in 2010, engine economy will assume crucial significance. The thirstier an engine is, the greater the fuel load the car will have to start the race with, and weight increases lap times.

Quite possibly, the chances of a Cosworth engine powering a 2010 F1 winner will depend on the chassis design more than anything, so let's have a look at the teams who will produce those cars.

Williams

Drivers: Rubens Barichello and Nico Hülkenberg

Williams F1 have been a very successful partner for Cosworth in the past, although I suspect their adoption of a Cosworth engine for 2010 is due more to price than nostalgia.

Of all the five Cosworth runners, Williams seem to be the most certain to actually appear on the grid. In recent years they have been no better than a mid-field team, and there have to be questions about their ability to hang a winning chassis design together.

Frank Williams and Patrick Head must be coming towards the end of their F1 careers now, it would be a fine thing to see them raise a last hurrah.

Rubens we all know and smile about, Nico is a GP2 series winner and a hot prospect. They look a good pairing to me.

Virgin Racing

Drivers: Timo Glock & Lucas Di Grassi

Richard Branson's money has put his Virgin brand name on a car produced by Manor Grand Prix. Manor have been successful in Formula Renault and Formula Three, and the Virgin team will have Nick Wirth as Technical Director.

Wirth made his mark on F1 as chief designer for Benetton, and was owner of the Simtek F1 team. The Virgin car is the first to be designed entirely by using computational fluid dynamics simulation technology, and that's a great phrase even if it doesn't produce a front-runner!

Overall I find Virgin the most intriguing of the new entrants, and I only regret their unexciting driver line-up.

Lotus F1 Racing

Drivers: Jarno Trulli & Heikki Kovalainen

Given that their backers include the Malaysian Government (via car maker Proton), it does at least seem highly likely that Lotus F1 will actually put cars on the grid.

Sadly, the team is nothing to do with the legendary Lotus race-winning machine founded by the great Colin Chapman.

They have Mike Gascoyne as Technical Director, and he has F1 experience aplenty, if not a cabinet full of trophies. The team began as a venture by Litespeed, a reasonably successful F3 team, so they appear to start F1 life with enough racing expertise aboard to make a not-too- embarrassing debut.

It is good when a new team brings at least one new F1 driver's face to the circus, but Lotus F1 have gone for two faces that are far from being that. Jarno and Heikki? I'd rather see Wallace & Grommit.

US F1

They've got a website, a YouTube channel, and some big talk; with a car and some drivers they could really go places.

There have been media reports of drivers being offered US F1 seats if they can bring sponsorship worth millions of dollars to the team, it's all very sad.

US F1 should have been a big thing for F1, attracting new interest and support in America, but Bernie Ecclestone does not think they are going to happen, and it is hard to disagree.

Campos Meta 1

Drivers: Bruno Senna & TBA

The Campos car is being built by Dallara, who have a long and successful history of producing open-wheel racers, notably in Formula 3 and IndyCar.

Team Principal Adrián Campos has a long racing history as an F1 driver and then running various racing teams, he gave Fernando Alonso his first professional drive.

On the face of it, Campos appear to be a sound contender, except that they have not yet secured a major sponsor, and that may be the reason Bernie Ecclestone has publicly doubted they will make it to the F1 grid.

There may be better qualified F1 newbies than Bruno Senna, who is coming to F1 at a relatively late age, he will be 27 in 2010. The Senna name in F1 again will attract a lot of attention to him, and merciless criticism if he does not live up to it.

The Return

The last time Cosworth power won a grand prix was at Interlagos in 2003. That was an unfortunate last win, because the result was only settled after a court battle resulted in Giancarlo Fisichella being declared the victor.

If an F1 car with a Cosworth engine scores a win in 2010, and I don't care which team achieves that, then the engine king will truly have returned.