CaptainGetz12 wrote:If Manufacturers don't have much to gain in such a high-cost sport, then why are Ferrari and Mercedes involved? They clearly have a ton of influence with both teams an engines. My guess would be to help develop technologies for road cars and other racing series (as Ferrari has done since the 1980s at the earliest).
I didn't entirely say that; what I was alluding to was that any manufacturers currently outside of the sport may now consider it of limited value. Currently we have Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault and Honda all involved as manufacturers and, if you were someone like VW or Toyota, you would probably expect them to take the stance that it's a little too saturated with other OEMs. How much value were the likes of Honda or Toyota getting out of F1 in 2007/8?
Right now, Mercedes are getting plenty of value out of being in F1, and Ferrari's marketing strategy has always used F1 at its core. Renault and Honda are longer-term projects, and all manufacturers have a common benefit of being able to develop these new hybrid systems and modify them for use in road vehicles.
