If Red Bull had known in advance the performance of Cosworth’s engine, the British marque and F1′s title leading team could be working together now.

That is the opinion of Cosworth’s managing director Tim Routsis, who has revealed that talks between the independent Northampton based engine maker and Red Bull took place a year ago.

Instead, the RB6 is fitted with the Renault V8, which according to Red Bull is significantly down on power compared with the industry leading F1 engines.

Red Bull designer Adrian Newey said this week that the 2011 car will likely also be powered by Renault, due to McLaren vetoing a collaboration with the team’s preferred supplier, Mercedes.

But Routsis reveals that there were talks last year between Cosworth, who have lost Lotus as an engine customer for 2011, and Red Bull.

“There were several contacts with Red Bull,” he is quoted by the Italian language Autosprint.

“But we were at a disadvantage, because we had no evidence about how our engine was going to debut.

“I am convinced that if we had been able to wind the clocks forward by 13 months, things with Red Bull would have gone differently,” added Routsis.

At Monza, Sir Frank Williams confirmed once again that his Oxfordshire built cars will be powered by Cosworth in 2011, although the financial health of the marque’s other partners – HRT and Virgin – is clouded.

“We are pleased to have produced a very reliable and economical engine,” Routsis concluded. “This I think is recognised by everyone.”

USF1 will not launch a renewed bid to debut in formula one in 2011.

The American team failed to be ready for its 2010 debut, but the recently quiet principals Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor had reportedly not ruled out trying to secure the final 13th berth on next year’s grid.

The news emerged by way of a statement issued by engine supplier Cosworth, who said its contract with USF1 has been terminated.

Cosworth said it has taken the action “following the (USF1) team’s decision to liquidate its assets as notified by its announcement to creditors dated 19 May 2010″.

Cosworth said that until USF1 decided to liquidate, the British marque had supported the team “over the last few months” in preparing for “a proposed entry for the 2011 season”.

The statement added: “Cosworth is a significant creditor of USF1, and will therefore join the other creditors of the team in seeking settlement of outstanding debts from the managed disposal of the remaining assets of the team.”

Rather than bracing to lose a customer, Cosworth says it is ready to supply engines to a fifth formula one team next year.

The British marque’s business director Mark Gallagher played down recent reports that the currently Cosworth-powered Williams or Lotus could be moving to switch to Renault.

Renault has said it is willing to add to its customer engine roster for 2011, but Gallagher told Reuters that he thinks Williams, Lotus, Virgin and HRT are going nowhere.

“The obvious solution is actually the thirteenth team that is coming into formula one,” he said.

“My gut feeling is that it is probably a Cosworth/Renault competition to supply (that) team,” added Gallagher.

Even if the four Cosworth-powered teams all stay put, Gallagher said the Northampton-based supplier has the capacity to supply a fifth team.

“It certainly wouldn’t be a problem to step up to the mark again and do it for next season,” he said.

(GMM)

According to reports in the financial media, F1 engine supplier Cosworth could soon be floated on the stock exchange.

The reports estimated the value of the flotation at about (US) $360 million, following the famous British marque’s return to F1 with Williams and all three of the new teams.

Main investors Gerald Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven, who bought Cosworth from Ford in 2004, are reportedly considering the move as profits are expected to surge from $2m in 2008 to more than $70m this year.

The reports said auditor Deloitte may have been hired for the initial public offering, and a source admitted that business has picked up dramatically since the company laid off 200 staff when it dropped out of F1 at the end of 2006.

The Northampton Chronicle quoted a spokesman as saying on Tuesday: “As with any company that enjoys a particularly successful period, there is speculation that they will float. Those things go hand in hand.”
(GMM)