Are the Cosworth engines going to be competitive?

[gloomyDAY]

I was looking at the testing times for both Rubens and Nico. :(

Does this point towards an underpowered and thirsty engine? Could just mean that the Williams car is just a pig and they made a big mistake during development.

We'll just have to wait for the next Cosworth-powered cars to make comparisons.

[Robinho]

so far Williams are nowhere - the only good thing about them is that we'll have a yardstick to compare the new guys to, as i fear the Cossie is behind the game and would not be unexpected for the newbies to be at the back, but if they are closer to the pack than Williams, perhaps they have done a really good job and the engine is holding them back

[Sonic]

No need to jump to conclusions, the Williams were running 1m13 pace which is in the ball park depending on fuel loads.

Cosworth know how to build an engine and the extra time they've had will have improved their fuel consumption.

I'm confident.

[RS]

I'm a little worried about Williams. They had a decent car last year but chose to scrap it and start again instead of develop it.

I think if it becomes apparent that the Cosworth is not up to scratch then the FIA will let them make some changes to "equalise" it with the top engines again.

[christophulus]

I'm not going to worry 'til the third test. The Cosworth won't be a problem because the FIA won't let it be too far off the pace.

[woody2goody]

Rubens was extremely confident about this year. I think he would have addressed Cosworth on this very issue, and if it had been a problem then he wouldn't have given off all these good vibes.

It could be the Cosworth are taking it easy for the first couple of tests, wanting to make sure everything works - or that Williams have been carrying a lot of fuel.

Remember that some drivers have more difficulty settling into a new car than others. Button has had problems where Alonso hasn't. Maybe the same is going on with Rubens and Little Nico.

[Easy Drifter]

Testing usually proves very little, especially the first tests.
Williams were probably making sure everything worked more than trying for times.
Sauber had a new to them, but proven engine.
Next session might reveal a little more as both Williams and Cosworth have a chance to go over data.
I do expect Cosworth to be given latitude to make improvements.

[JasonD]

I'm a little worried about Williams. They had a decent car last year but chose to scrap it and start again instead of develop it.
.

Perhaps they did so because they have more insight into development it than some guy on a forum. :p

[CNR]

will it still be like this

Rubens Barrichello (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/1999/8.html) Stewart-Ford (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/1999/2044.html) 21 points
the next year
Rubens Barrichello (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2000/8.html) Ferrari (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2000/2060.html) 62 points


Eddie Irvine (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/1999/15.html) Ferrari (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/1999/2041.html) 74 points
the next year
Eddie Irvine (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2000/15.html) Jaguar-Cosworth (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2000/2063.html) 4 points

11 years from 1995

1995 cosworth (ford) got 19 points
1996 cosworth (ford) got 11 points
1997 cosworth (ford) got 8 points
1998 cosworth (ford) got 5 points
1999 cosworth (ford) got 37 points
2000 cosworth ( ) got 4 points
2001 cosworth ( ) got 9 points
2002 cosworth ( ) got 8 points
2003 cosworth (ford) got 41 points
2004 cosworth (ford) got 16 points
2005 cosworth (ford) got 41 points
2006 cosworth (ford) got 11 + 1 points (1 point from STR-Cosworth (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2006/2896.html) v10)

[woody2goody]

I don't think there was much wrong with the engine at the time, just the teams running them.

I remember in 2002, that Jordan were talking about how good the Cossie was.

Also at the start of 2006 it was by far the best engine on the grid before things leveled out a bit.

I reckon they'll be ok.

[DexDexter]

No need to jump to conclusions, the Williams were running 1m13 pace which is in the ball park depending on fuel loads.

Cosworth know how to build an engine and the extra time they've had will have improved their fuel consumption.

I'm confident.

I don't think so, I mean when was a Cosworth-designed engine truly competitive? 1994?

[Mark]

I don't think so, I mean when was a Cosworth-designed engine truly competitive? 1994?

Well since they won the championship that year, I'd say so :p .
But yes, they've always been amongst the worst. But that could be that they've always supplied 'customer' teams and never really seemingly took the whole thing seriously.

[V12]

The Cosworth won't be a problem because the FIA won't let it be too far off the pace.

Sad, but true.

[DexDexter]

Well since they won the championship that year, I'd say so :p .
But yes, they've always been amongst the worst. But that could be that they've always supplied 'customer' teams and never really seemingly took the whole thing seriously.

Yep, and nothing has changed.

[jens]

The impression I have got so far is that although Cosworth isn't dramatically bad (Williams "only" 2 secs behind frontrunners or so I guess), they are still behind others. Williams looked more impressive last year with a different engine. But it will be certainly interesting to see, what can the new teams do and I think it would be most sensible to compare their times to the ones of Williams. If Virgin/Lotus can be within 1-2 secs of Williams' times, they will have done well.

[Valve Bounce]

Testing usually proves very little, especially the first tests.
Williams were probably making sure everything worked more than trying for times.
Sauber had a new to them, but proven engine.
Next session might reveal a little more as both Williams and Cosworth have a chance to go over data.
I do expect Cosworth to be given latitude to make improvements.

How true! Testing is testing, and we have little idea what they are testing in the car: aero, suspension settings, tyres, or just letting the drivers get used to the cars' handling.

So far, the only thing that has come out of this test session is :"SchM is back", and everyone else had better get used to it.

[Sonic]

Testing usually proves very little, especially the first tests.
Williams were probably making sure everything worked more than trying for times.
Sauber had a new to them, but proven engine.
Next session might reveal a little more as both Williams and Cosworth have a chance to go over data.
I do expect Cosworth to be given latitude to make improvements.

Here here! Formula one is better off with the return of such a historically important name. If Williams stumble this year it won't be because of lack of pony power.

[Sonic]

Our first measure of performance was always going to be durability and the fact that Rubens and Nico completed over 1,200kms between them showed that engine reliability has been in line with our expectations

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81288

The cossie boys seem happy enough :)

[gloomyDAY]

No detonations, reliability issues, or other nuisances.

So far, so good.

[christophulus]

The Williams seems to be there or thereabouts so it doesn't look like the Cosworth is the weak link. The new teams must be struggling more with the aero package.

[jens]

What is interesting that Williams seems to be impressing more with each testing week. I'm not sure, how true the rumours were, but were Cosworth allowed to develop their engine until the beginning of the season unlike other engine manufacturers? So maybe they still have something up in their sleeve.

[Sonic]

The Williams seems to be there or thereabouts so it doesn't look like the Cosworth is the weak link. The new teams must be struggling more with the aero package.

Yes, as Kovy said the Cosworth was the strongest part of their package.

It seems the cossie boys are going about this very differently from their last F1 outing. No longer a search for out and out performance but a methodical and reliable program of testing which I hope will last into the season.

[LiamM]

I'm a little worried about Williams. They had a decent car last year but chose to scrap it and start again instead of develop it.

I think if it becomes apparent that the Cosworth is not up to scratch then the FIA will let them make some changes to "equalise" it with the top engines again.

If they do improve on fuel consumption with 'equalisation' from the FIA, the teams not be too happy. They will have built cars to have fuel tanks for the correct size, but if the engines get more fuel efficient then there will be wasted space (and weight) in the car, unless a B spec car is introduced half way through

[Robinho]

i have to revise my opinion - i thought the cossie was a weak link, but looking at Williams times, bith single laps and long runs and they are pretty competitive, doesn't seem to be much missing in the engine dept

[Sonic]

i have to revise my opinion - i thought the cossie was a weak link, but looking at Williams times, bith single laps and long runs and they are pretty competitive, doesn't seem to be much missing in the engine dept

If the rumors are true and the Cossie is 30bhp down then Williams is even more impressive. 0.2s behind the fastest lap from Hamster

[Sleeper]

If the rumors are true and the Cossie is 30bhp down then Williams is even more impressive. 0.2s behind the fastest lap from Hamster
If those rumours are true then it puts it on about the same level as the Renault, which means its better than last years Toyota engine at least. So far the only Cosworth car thats looked unreliable is the Virgin, and thats down mostly to the teams hydrolicks system.

[Sonic]

If those rumours are true then it puts it on about the same level as the Renault, which means its better than last years Toyota engine at least. So far the only Cosworth car thats looked unreliable is the Virgin, and thats down mostly to the teams hydrolicks system.

Indeed. Nothing wrong with the engine just poor aux systems on the VR01