GreenBkk.com Formula 1 | Q&A with Cosworth’s Mark Gallagher

Q&A with Cosworth’s Mark Gallagher

Reliability-wise, engine supplier Cosworth enjoyed a strong showing at Sunday’s Hungarian event with all three teams - Williams, Virgin and HRT - recording two-car finishes. General manager of Cosworth’s F1 business unit, Mark Gallagher, reflects on the Budapest weekend and his hopes for 2011’s remaining races and beyond…

Q: How would you assess the performance of the CA2011 so far this season?

Mark Gallagher: The CA2011 is a competitive unit, more than the results have suggested so far this year. We have a powerful unit and have also continued to demonstrate Cosworth’s proven reliability, which is vital for our teams to have confidence in the product. We have seen a couple of issues, much as one would expect given how hard the engines are pushed, but we have had a good season on the reliability side of things - probably among the best in the sport - as shown again by all six Cosworth-powered cars finishing yesterday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Q: Where do you think Cosworth lines up compared to other units on the grid?

MG: There is not a lot of difference in performance between the four engine manufacturers in Formula One currently. We are always listening to the feedback from our teams and looking at ways to optimise the performance of the engine for each race. The Cosworth engine has good reliability and excellent all-round performance, and I remain convinced that it has the potential to win races in the right car. We have to continue to work hard with all three teams and also look to future developments; I believe Marussia Virgin Racing and HRT F1 will make another good step in 2012.

Q: Have you been pleased with the progress of Marussia Virgin Racing and HRT F1 in their sophomore seasons?

MG: We are very happy with the on-going technical partnership that we have with both Marussia Virgin and HRT F1 and are looking forward to playing a key role in their continued development into 2012. Marussia Virgin Racing has recently made key announcements about its technical set-up including the relationship with McLaren Applied Technologies which signal its intent to move up the grid, while HRT F1 has new owners which gives them increased confidence in their F1 programme. Both teams have made improvements during the course of this season and are continuing to fight hard to reduce the gap to the midfield. Cosworth aims to push hard on its side to support both teams and to be deeply involved in their progress.

Q: What is Cosworth’s view of the V6 turbo engine regulations for 2014?

MG: We have welcomed the new regulations and signed up to the V6 along with the other manufacturers. Designing new engines is part of the lifeblood of Cosworth, so we have a highly motivated and hugely experienced team of engineers and designers at Northampton looking forward to bringing this new unit to market. It’s not the first V6 Turbo F1 engine we've done, so it's not as though we are moving into uncharted territory even if some of the requirements are indeed unique! Meanwhile, we have been working alongside our competitors to incorporate a resource restriction agreement on these new regulations to lay sensible and firm foundations for all engine manufacturers in Formula One moving forwards. Cosworth has a successful track record when it comes to producing new engines and the technologies being incorporated in the 2014 engine reflect the work we are already doing for car manufacturers in our automotive business. It's a very exciting prospect.

Credit: Formula One Administration Ltd (www.formula1.com)