Q & A with Cosworth's Bernard Ferguson

Bernard Ferguson - Cosworth's managing director: It is very disappointing. We thought that we had a pretty strong product, a pretty reliable product and pretty good staff, but unfortunately what they wanted was more a relationship with a car manufacturer for road-engine purposes.

Unfortunately that is not something that we can provide, so we are pretty disappointed. We felt the deal was in the bag actually because a large part of their 2007 car has been designed around our engine.

Q. What is the situation with Toro Rosso? Would there be any chance of supplying them?

BF: There are not talks going on there. As far as I am concerned, I don't know which engine is going where but they have got two engine contracts in place and two teams. I don't think there is room for another one; otherwise they would have as many engines as drivers.

Q. Do you think Cosworth will be in Formula One next year?

BF: No, I think the facts speak for themselves. I don't think we are going to be in Formula One next year. Obviously we have got to go back and look at the options and there are perhaps opportunities with all the legislation on engines that the FIA are putting together, so maybe we could help with the policing of that, but we are a bit numb.

We haven't had the opportunity to think it through yet. We will do that next week. We will go back and see what we are going to do with the rest of our lives. I think maybe even one of the manufacturers who has under-achieved this year might want an homologated engine that is good for next year. Who knows?

Q. The fact that the freeze is coming does mean that if you are out of F1 next year, you could still return in 2008 with a competitive engine?

BF: We could do that for sure. That is one of the options that is open to us, to put the stuff into cold storage for a while. But you cannot put people into cold storage. That is the difficulty. So we have to decide what the strategy is going to be there.

We are in the middle of a diversification programme, and thank god we did start that when we did because it is working quite well. But we would have preferred to have another few years in F1 to complete the process, but it is a bit ironic that at the very time that Max Mosley was doing all these things to help the independents, perhaps the last independent manufacturer is going out of F1.

Q. It is ironic that all season Max has been pushing the line that F1 needs the independent engine suppliers...

BF: At the end of the day, he is not the guy who is buying engines. So it is up to the teams to decide the future of engine supply. But frankly it is extremely disappointing and the product in our opinion is still the best engine on the grid. We are looking to do something fairly spectacular in Brazil.

We have got a great bunch of people and it is disappointing that no one wants it. You can have the best product in the world but if you have got no customers then it is not much use is it.

Q. A lot of people in the paddock are shocked that Cosworth will not be here next season, especially because of the engine you produced this year...

BF: It begs the question, what do you have to do to be able to compete in this environment? Perhaps the face of Formula One has changed forever and maybe it does need big manufacturers. I always felt that perhaps an independent was necessary because you cannot imagine all these manufacturers staying in because not all of them can win.

Being here and losing has got to be worse than not being here at all. When some of the manufacturers start to drop out, who is going to take up the slack? The other manufacturers? Who knows?

Q. Isn't there a rule coming in that says a manufacturer can only supply one customer team from 2008?

BF: Yes...strange that.

Q. So it could free up a deal for one of the Red Bull teams if Spyker's deal goes on?

BF: What happens in 2008 when, it would appear, that the most sensible thing for Red Bull and Toro Rosso would be to have the two cars on the same engine? But if that is a manufacturer who is already in the sport as well, so that by definition breaks a rule.

If both those cars are Renaults, then that would be three teams with Renault. So maybe there is an opportunity there.

Q. But then you have the difficulty of keeping your staff on tap for a year?

BF: Well, that is the kind of decisions we have to come to as we move forward. We are bloodied but unbeaten and unbowed. We will be as innovative as we can and find a solution to this. Certainly it may be the end of Cosworth in F1 next year but it is certainly not the end of Cosworth.

I think there will be massive support for what we have done, and what we will do, and we have got some new opportunities I guess. You have got to look at life as a bit of a challenge haven't you?