Cosworth, Formula 1’s only independent engine supplier, insists the departure of Williams at the end of the season won’t have an impact on their future in the sport.
Williams recently announced a return to Renault power from next year, which follows Team Lotus who also dropped Cosworth engines for Renault at the beginning of the season.
Mark Gallagher, Cosworth’s general manager, says the plan always involved supplying two teams as a ‘worst case’ scenario, with the two; Williams and Team Lotus, joining later on as a bonus.
“It won’t affect our future in F1,” he told ManipeF1. “We did the deal with three new teams to come back into Formula One in the late spring of 2009, that was with Virgin/Manor, Campos and USF1, and then unexpectedly in September we got Team Lotus and then unexpectedly in November we got Williams, so for a brief period we had five teams.
“We didn’t envisage the return to F1 featuring Williams. In fact we envisaged it featuring three new teams and we did our plan based on the worst case belief that at least one of the new teams would struggle and possibly go out of business,” he said.
He reiterated the fact that the deal with Virgin and Hispania, as of 2012 they will be their only customers, remained profitable.
“Each engine supply agreement with each team is profitable in its own right.”
