By Maken / Huw Alban
September 26 2006

Engines and drivers seem to be the talk of the town with the new Spyker MF1 team at the moment, but it is the former that has made the headlines in Holland with news of a meeting with Ferrari being held today.

Firstly a huge thank you to message board contributor Maken for both making us aware of this news, and for translating the article so that it could be shared with eveyone.

Maken reports that the Dutch daily newspaper 'Algemeen Dagblad' has indicated that the team are visiting the Ferrari Maranello factory today in order to attempt to finalise an engine deal for next year. "In the negotiations with Ferrari, it is about over 25 details and those are not that easily worked out." Spyker Cars CEO Victor Muller reportedly told the newspaper.

"Among others, we are negotiating about the question what is part of the engine and what is not. Things like the oil tank, exhaust pipe and other parts. This has to be sorted out, otherwise you will have to make essential parts yourself. And this obviously influences the price."

Muller also revealed to the paper that the team are also still in negotiation with Cosworth. "But one should not take any conclusions of this," he was quoted as saying by the paper. "We are holding similar talks with Cosworth".

On the potential of a Cosworth deal, the paper reports that Cosworth board member Bernard Ferguson has been in almost constant contact with the new team since it concluded it's purchase of Midland F1 Racing three weeks ago. 'Algemeen Dagblad' believes that Cosworth's reputation as an engine supplier has already taken a dent with the loss of Williams for next season, and claims that the Northamptonshire based company needs a deal with Spyker in order to help recover that situation.

This news today has received a mixed reception from the fans. Some would far prefer to see Spyker snap up a Cosworth deal at a good price and invest heavily in the development of the 2007 car. Others agree with Victor Muller that the Ferrari engine is the best one to go for based on it's reliability record, although there is another camp that believes that Ferrari's record on supplying customer engines has never been that good anyway and that if Spyker MF1 want to move forward then an association with Ferrari is not the way to go.

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