Why manufacturers spurn F1 for WEC

Last Sunday, at Interlagos, Toyota secured its first FIA world manufacturers' title since 1999, when the company scored the last of its three World Rally championships.

Back then, Toyota had just finished dabbling (unsuccessfully) with Le Mans and was clearing its motorsport decks to turn its attention to Formula 1, mounting a multi-billion dollar, eight-year campaign that delivered no victories.

In Brazil last weekend, it won the 2014 World Endurance Championship, to add to the drivers' titles won a fortnight earlier by Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi.

At the end of 2009 the company downsized massively, initially concentrating on third-party motorsport services - its identical-twin windtunnels are reckoned to be the best in the business, and during its F1 years it was the only operation to build car and engine under a single roof - before committing to the WEC in 2012.

In typical Japanese fashion, TMG, operating from a 30,000-square-metre state-of-art facility situated in a Cologne industrial suburb, chose an unconventional route.

Where Audi, then the dominant team, embraced diesel V6 engines boosted by Williams flywheel energy recovery systems feeding the front wheels, the blue/red/white team went with raucous petrol V8s, with super capacitors providing additional power to the rear wheels.

True, the TS030 HYBRID's first attempt at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2012 was troubled, having already been delayed by a crash in testing. In the race one car was involved in a horrific accident with a wayward competitor, and the other retired with mechanical issues. However, the TS030 led briefly despite petrol cars suffering balance of performance deficits.

These were rectified for 2013 - facilitating second place at Le Mans behind the diesel V6 Audi, which repeated victory this year, finishing 1-2 ahead of TS040, the new car again V8 powered, but with added capacitor boost to the front wheels.

Throughout the season the Cologne-built car was a regular contender for victory, winning four rounds and being in strong contention in Sunday's season finale when the race was halted prematurely by Mark Webber's horrific accident in Porsche's 919.

Toyota drivers celebrate the Japanese manufacturer's first FIA title since 1999 © LAT

This enabled the sister 919, powered by a two-litre V4 turbo petrol engine supplemented by 'traditional' battery energy systems, to score Porsche's first outright victory in a world championship endurance race since 1989.

Thus three different marques, powered by as many power unit combinations, have taken chequered flags this year, attesting not only to the variety by the WEC's technical regulations, but also the highly competitive field, particularly at the sharp end. The thrilling nip-and-tuck nature of the race for the lead at Interlagos bears testimony to equitable performance levels despite disparate technical solutions.

The key question as to why three major motor manufacturers - two from within the same (Volkswagen) group - choose to contest a championship consisting of eight rounds (of which only three are in Europe) was partly answered on Friday during the SPONSORS motorsport business conference convened as part of the Essen Motorshow, arguably Europe's premier performance exhibition.

During a presentation entitled 'Hybrid, high-tech, cost-efficient: Answers to the rethink in motorsport', TMG's business development manager Sebastian Janssen provided insights into Toyota's rationale behind entering the WEC: The company was able to win global championships for an outlay of less than a quarter of its erstwhile F1 budget (estimated to be £300million per year), while simultaneously developing road relevant technology.

Toyota is both the world's largest motor manufacturer and leading producer of hybrid road cars, 10million annual sales globally (of which hybrids make up 10 per cent of the total volume), and thus Toyota and the WEC's petrol-hybrid option provides a perfect fit - with the lure of competing (and potential victory) at Le Mans offering a further attraction.

Insiders estimate that Toyota spends less than half of what Audi and Porsche each commit to the WEC - although, to be fair, the three budgets are not directly comparable due to differing policies on items such as marketing, hospitality and development cost allocation - and in their instance the question is two-fold: why do two Volkswagen Group brands compete directly against each other in the same series, at effectively double the cost?

Again the answer lies in sustainability and road car relevance: freedom of technical choice, four-wheel drive options, real world aerodynamics, plus high-tech lighting/wiper solutions and other systems crucial to closed-roof endurance racers. The companies patently believe their engineers benefit more during a single 24-hour marathon than in 12 two-hour grands prix - in other words, Vorsprung durch Technik.

As an aside, during their 2014 seasons, F1 cars spent approximately 31 hours in the heat of direct competition; WEC cars well over double that.

2009 was Toyota's last season in F1, and it remained winless © XPB

However, the second part of the answer lies in F1's current grid: A single dominant manufacturer, which supplies (subsidised) engines to three customer teams; a limping stallion; hamstrung small volume sportscar manufacturer devoid of a title sponsor; two flying drinks can teams; squabbling mid-grid independents and two teams in administration - racing to regulations that fix V-angles and mounting points of engines.

In all honesty, what kudos in beating that motley bunch running to such restrictive regulations? Any wonder Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche on Saturday, speaking during the Mercedes Stars and Cars event in Stuttgart, called on Audi and BMW to enter F1? After all, where in 2014 Toyota beat Audi and Porsche, Mercedes beat Red Bull...

"We share - and I'm talking about the premium business - about 80 per cent of the world market share with Audi and BMW," he said. "Of course, we greatly admire Red Bull and Ferrari and the other teams; nevertheless other manufacturer teams would be very much welcomed by us."

Much is made of Ferrari's importance to the sport, with some going as far as suggesting that, when the Scuderia sneezes, the whole of F1 catches the 'flu. Is it healthy that the category perceived as the world's top racing series is utterly dependent upon the fortunes of a single team?

At Essen a senior VW executive with inside knowledge of the Group's motorsport programmes was wandering about incognito. This is a organisation that blows upwards of £600million on all its global motorsport projects (WEC x 2, WRC, GT racing, Lamborghini Trofeo, plus others including Bentley and Ducati campaigns), yet not a single penny is dedicated to Formula 1...

It is not as though the world's number two cannot afford what had increasingly become known as Bernie's Game: According to AUTOSPORT's sister publication Autocar the VW Group last year spent almost £8billion on research and development, while 2013 profits in a depressed global market amounted to £10billion - to which Audi contributed 40 per cent.

A full-on F1 campaign as per Mercedes' current programme would probably cost the company a maximum of £350million to establish (assuming it did not acquire an existing team as base), plus around £250million per year (without sponsor recovery) - a fraction of a single per cent of VW's annual R&D budget. Or Audi's annual profit.

Asked whether F1 was on the cards for the group in the near future, via whatever brand, said executive smiled: "What for? It's no use ... it's far too expensive for the offering, TV audiences are dropping, the fan base is diminishing, F1's politics are ridiculous. What would we gain?"

After a pause he added: "Then there is the question of one man..." Who would that be? Conspiratorial smile.

Mercedes would love to have BMW or Audi as rivals in F1 © XPB

Toyota was not alone in exiting F1 in 2009: Renault and BMW did so, too - after Honda had left the previous season. Yes, Renault stayed on as an engine supplier and Honda returns for next season, yet sources in France suggest the former is desperately unhappy with its lot: for an F1 engine budget double that blown by Toyota on its entire WEC programme, Renault is not even assured of paddock passes!

BMW entered the DTM when it departed F1, and is not dissatisfied about the move. The tin-top series offers fan engagement way beyond that provided by F1 - as with the WEC, paddocks are open to Joe Soap and Family; ticket are prices are affordable - and the cars bear (passing) resemblances to catalogue products. Plus, as a bonus, BMW goes head-to-head against Audi and Mercedes, winning all three titles in its first season in 2012.

I attended the Spa-Francorchamps WEC and Red Bull Ring DTM rounds this season in order to make direct comparisons with the respective F1 grands prix hosted by the same venues. The former entertained 40,000 fans over two days - versus 80,000 over three days for F1 - and the latter approximately 100,000 over three days, half the number of grand prix visitors.

To put these numbers in perspective, Abu Dhabi's F1 showdown finale - complete with a double points bonanza - attracted 80 per cent of its 60,000 capacity despite the promoters declaring a full house. Hockenheim's F1 race was visited by 50,000 punters, and the less said about Hungary the better.

In contrast, Shanghai's massive main stand was filled to capacity during the recent WEC round, while race day footage from Interlagos showed the main straight stands to be heaving from Turn 14 (where Webber crashed) to the Senna S.

Tellingly, ticket prices for Spa's WEC race were one-third those of August's grand prix (with the added bonus of paddock access), while DTM weekend tickets with pitlane/paddock access were available for £60. Saliently, both promoters reported profits on their non-F1 events...

Is F1 concerned about a lack of manufacturer appeal and dwindling fan interest? Apparently: At the Abu Dhabi GP Claire Williams, deputy principal of the team bearing her family name, revealed that a Promotional Working Group had been established with the blessing of commercial rights holder FOM, to wit CEO Bernie Ecclestone.

"[Ecclestone] sanctioned it; it is a promotional working group," she explained. "When we have those [other] group meetings a lot of things come on the agenda and the promotional bit of our sport comes at the bottom.

BMW has enjoyed success on its return to the DTM since 2012 © XPB

"I took it on that Williams will collate a promotional working group, invite every team to be a part of it to look at ways we can drive greater interest and engagement.

"Not just younger audiences, [but] across the whole group, declining audience figures and TV viewing figures.

"There are easy ways and some more complex mechanisms we can put in place in order to promote F1 more - so we have set up the group. We have had our first meeting and we can talk for hours about what we can do, but we need to move it forward, and the strategy is to hopefully deliver a new set of promotional proposals in time for Australia next year."

All well and good - even if one wonders whether sanction from a man patently anti-fan initiatives is a blessing - but a document circulated by a delegate immediately after the inaugural meeting points to various issues, with the question of stickers on fridges in the paddock being one of the points raised. Forget dwindling fan numbers: concentrate on the visibility of paddock ice cream supplies.

Another point raised in the document - a copy of which was seen by this writer - is tacking the word 'hybrid' to chassis or team names. Laudable, yes, except the motion is spoiled by doubts as to whether such rebranding would require the approval "of Bernie". Toyota and Porsche simply did so in the WEC - as seen on TV on Sunday.

Another suggestion is for teams to acquire six-second video clips (of their own cars, note) from the commercial rights holder for promotional purposes, but the proposal ends ominously: "We'll need to be willing to offer Bernie something in exchange for this...I don't know what..."

Dr Zetsche, there you have the primary reasons why Audi and BMW play elsewhere, why Toyota, which owns the Lexus brand, considers the WEC to be not only more high-tech, but markedly more cost-efficient than F1. There are reasons why VW went rallying, as did Hyundai, while Peugeot was a Le Mans contender until financial issues intervened.

Put differently, Mercedes is the only mainstream manufacturer currently in F1 - and only the second (after Renault) to have won the constructors' championship in the 47-year history of that award. The question, then, is who is marching out of step: Audi and BMW, or Mercedes?