- 33,155
- Hammerhead Garage
With the news that the Cypher Group has joined ART Grand Prix in withdrawing their 2011 entry bid and that Epsilon Euskadi is rumoured to be on the rocks (leaving a washed up singer-songwriter joining forces with a disgraced GP2 team rumoured to have backing from the son of a dictator as the only remaining entry), I've gotten to wondering: how would you go about esablishing a Formula 1 team of your own? Who would you want to drive? Who would design your car? Where would you find sponsors, and who would fill roles like team principal?
Now normally, when this kind of thread comes up, people post a dream-team line-up, usually Hamilton/Vettel or Alonso/Kubica with Martin Whitmarsh as team principal and Adrian Newey as lead designer. But let's be perfectly honest here: that's not going to happen for a freshman team. You could always run with that in the hopes that they'd give up world-class teams and drives for a completely unknown entity, but I'm going to go for the realistic approach, starting from scratch.
First of all, my team needs a name. I want something that suggests both power and speed. I'm going to go with one of the names Brawn GP considered before they became Brawn: Pure Racing. Brawn rejected this name because they didn't want to overstate their relationship with their engine supplier, but I intend to ally myself with a car manufacturer, so this isn't a problem.
Next up, I need someone to run my team. I'm a twenty-three year-old university student, so I've already used up all of my suspension of disbelief points right there. The notion that I could own and run a team is taking things a little too far. So, I need myself a team. I want someone experienced, capable, and who has expressed an interest in joining the sport. No, it's not Dave Richards, because I'm not his biggest fan - instead, I'm going to turn to Ray Mallock Limited to run the team, with Mallock himself as my team principal. And secondly, I'm going to turn to a car manufacturer to help attract sponsors. I'll use a similar arrangement to Renault and Mangrove and run the team in their name. They'll be free to buy themselves out at any time. I've considered a few here, but I've had a hard time deciding. While the Gumpert Apollo is a wild car, it's not the kind of name I'd want to use; "Gumpert" sounds like something you might find clogging up your plumbing. And while the Ascari KZ-1 is also fantastic, they're a bit too small. Hyundai expressed interest in running a Formula 1 team, but they're Hyundai; I'll pass, thanks. So I'm going to reach out to the most insane car manufacturer known to man: Koenigsegg. As a direct result, we'll be competing under a Swedish racing licence, and Christian von Koenigsegg can be involved in the design process since, like Horacio Pagani, he designs the cars that carry his name. I'll likely take a Cosworth engine to begin with and rebrand it as a Koenigsegg, with a view to acquiring McLaren engines ones they begin their development program.
Now that I've got my team in place, I need some drivers. Since I'm new, I'm probably going to need a pay driver to help bring some sponsor dollars in. But I also want someone experienced as my lead driver, and I've narrowed it down to three choices. In order, they are Adrian Sutil, Sebastien Buemi and Felipe Massa. Sutil is my ideal first choice because he's quick and he's matured to become a regular points scorer. He's also becoming a little disenfatuated with Force India because they've really shrugged off their momentum. He's shown a willingness to stick with a team, and I think that if my team were to field a car that at the very least can compete with Sauber and Toro Rosso, then maybe he will be interested. My second choice may be an odd one - Sebastien Buemi. He's not as quick as Sutil, but he may be looking for an exit strategy from Toro Rosso. Toro Rosso was created to give younger drivers experience before promoting them to Red Bull, but the problem is that with Red Bull being so competitive, they can have their pick of any driver. As such, doors may be closed to Buemi, amking him more receptive to a move. Finally, there's Felipe Massa. He's struggled with tyres a little (okay, a lot) this season, but he's onto a good thing with Ferrari. Getting him onto my side might require some dirty tricks on my behalf by exploiting the idea of an Alonso-centric Ferrari, and Massa deserves more credit than that. So all things being considered, Adrian Sutil will be my lead driver. I'd try and acquire the services of Andrew Shovlin as race engineer (formerly with Jenson Button's and now working with Michael Schumacher's).
My second driver is, inescapably, a pay driver. But unlike the bad old days of the mid-1990s when any man and his dog could get a seat if they waved a bit of cash around, the tiered system of feeder series means that even the meanest pay driver (*cough*Michael Herck!*cough*) has to have some talent. And right now, there's four possible candidates in GP2: Pastor Maldonado, Sergio Perez, Dani Clos and Giedo van der Garde. Maldonado is quick - especially on street circuits - but is as reckless as an early Felipe Massa. Dani Clos is also fast, but he's only just come good and I'd want to watch him some more before committing to him. And I don't know much about Giedo van der Garde. That leaves Perez, who is quick and consistent and brings sponsorship from Telmex. It's a slam-dunk, really: Sergio Perez becomes my second driver. His sponsorship means that my team is now officially known as Telmex Pure Koenigsegg. A bit of a mouthful, but I kind of like it. For his race engineer, I'd try and poach Mark Slade from Renault. He's Vitaly Petrov's race engineer at the moment, and I think his shool teahcer-like approach to his drivers is appropriate for a rookie.
On to test drivers. Heaven forbid one of my regulars should get injured or sick, so I need a backup. I was impressed at the way Giacomo Ricci was winning races in a DPR in the GP2 Asia series, so he'll be one of them. He's a bit of an unknown element, so unfortunately for Giacomo, he'll have to be my test driver. My reserve driver is another easy choice. Instead of looking at GP2, I'm crossing the pond to Formula 2, where I can think of only one man for the job: Kazim Vasiliauskas, who has been fast and consistent, but trapped in a series that seems to be going nowhere. I've also got my eye on Mihai Marinescu who has been solid in his debut year; Vasiliauskas gets the call-up as reserve driver (and second driver should Sutil decide against my team), with Marinescu joining Ricci in testing.
Now, I've got my drivers and my team established. Money is flowing in, but I need more to sustain myself. I need more sponsors, and for that I'm going to look to the three markets Bernie Ecclestone is trying to break into: Russia, America and South Africa. I'll acquire one of my technical partners from Russia: Lukoil. Banking and finance companies are also popular with teams right now, so I'll pick up Visa from America. And telecom providers are also popular, but I already have one in the shape of Telmex. For that reason, I'm going left of field and running with something a little decadent: African diamond consortium De Beers.
Finally, I'm going to need a livery. We'll go with something like this: light blue with streaks of white. Because of Lukoil's presence in the team, I'm also going to work red in as well. Since I like the conept of an asymmetrical livery (about the one thing BAR had going for their livery in 1999, ugly as it was), I'm going to work that in. First up, Telmex decals will go on the engine cowling and front wing, with the TM logo on the rear wing endplates and the space between the sidepod and front suspension mounting. Visa get the space on one of the sidepods and the front side of the rear wing, whilst Lukoil will occupy the the other sidepod and the back side of the rear wing. Visa and Lukoil's positions will be reversed between Sutil's car and Perez's. As for De Beers, they'll appear on the nose of the car and get several smaller decals like TW Steel on the Renault R30.
So, in summary:
Telmex Pure Koenigsegg
#26 - Adrian SUTIL
#27 - Sergio PEREZ
#43 - Kazim VASILIAUSKAS (Mihai MARINESCU, Giacomo RICCI)
Team Principal: Ray MALLOCK
Designer: Christian VON KOENIGSEGG
Race Engineers: Andrew SHOVLIN and Mark SLADE
Engine: COSWORTH, re-badged as KOENIGSEGG
Gearbox: X-TRAC
Tyres: PIRELLI
Fuels and Lubricants: GAZPROM NEFT
Sponsors: Telmex, Visa, De Beers
Livery based on this:
So, now I'm opening the door to you: how would you set up your own team? You can be as detailed or as vague as you like, as fantastical or realistic as your heart's desire. The above might be a lot, but that's just me - I have time on my hands.
Now normally, when this kind of thread comes up, people post a dream-team line-up, usually Hamilton/Vettel or Alonso/Kubica with Martin Whitmarsh as team principal and Adrian Newey as lead designer. But let's be perfectly honest here: that's not going to happen for a freshman team. You could always run with that in the hopes that they'd give up world-class teams and drives for a completely unknown entity, but I'm going to go for the realistic approach, starting from scratch.
First of all, my team needs a name. I want something that suggests both power and speed. I'm going to go with one of the names Brawn GP considered before they became Brawn: Pure Racing. Brawn rejected this name because they didn't want to overstate their relationship with their engine supplier, but I intend to ally myself with a car manufacturer, so this isn't a problem.
Next up, I need someone to run my team. I'm a twenty-three year-old university student, so I've already used up all of my suspension of disbelief points right there. The notion that I could own and run a team is taking things a little too far. So, I need myself a team. I want someone experienced, capable, and who has expressed an interest in joining the sport. No, it's not Dave Richards, because I'm not his biggest fan - instead, I'm going to turn to Ray Mallock Limited to run the team, with Mallock himself as my team principal. And secondly, I'm going to turn to a car manufacturer to help attract sponsors. I'll use a similar arrangement to Renault and Mangrove and run the team in their name. They'll be free to buy themselves out at any time. I've considered a few here, but I've had a hard time deciding. While the Gumpert Apollo is a wild car, it's not the kind of name I'd want to use; "Gumpert" sounds like something you might find clogging up your plumbing. And while the Ascari KZ-1 is also fantastic, they're a bit too small. Hyundai expressed interest in running a Formula 1 team, but they're Hyundai; I'll pass, thanks. So I'm going to reach out to the most insane car manufacturer known to man: Koenigsegg. As a direct result, we'll be competing under a Swedish racing licence, and Christian von Koenigsegg can be involved in the design process since, like Horacio Pagani, he designs the cars that carry his name. I'll likely take a Cosworth engine to begin with and rebrand it as a Koenigsegg, with a view to acquiring McLaren engines ones they begin their development program.
Now that I've got my team in place, I need some drivers. Since I'm new, I'm probably going to need a pay driver to help bring some sponsor dollars in. But I also want someone experienced as my lead driver, and I've narrowed it down to three choices. In order, they are Adrian Sutil, Sebastien Buemi and Felipe Massa. Sutil is my ideal first choice because he's quick and he's matured to become a regular points scorer. He's also becoming a little disenfatuated with Force India because they've really shrugged off their momentum. He's shown a willingness to stick with a team, and I think that if my team were to field a car that at the very least can compete with Sauber and Toro Rosso, then maybe he will be interested. My second choice may be an odd one - Sebastien Buemi. He's not as quick as Sutil, but he may be looking for an exit strategy from Toro Rosso. Toro Rosso was created to give younger drivers experience before promoting them to Red Bull, but the problem is that with Red Bull being so competitive, they can have their pick of any driver. As such, doors may be closed to Buemi, amking him more receptive to a move. Finally, there's Felipe Massa. He's struggled with tyres a little (okay, a lot) this season, but he's onto a good thing with Ferrari. Getting him onto my side might require some dirty tricks on my behalf by exploiting the idea of an Alonso-centric Ferrari, and Massa deserves more credit than that. So all things being considered, Adrian Sutil will be my lead driver. I'd try and acquire the services of Andrew Shovlin as race engineer (formerly with Jenson Button's and now working with Michael Schumacher's).
My second driver is, inescapably, a pay driver. But unlike the bad old days of the mid-1990s when any man and his dog could get a seat if they waved a bit of cash around, the tiered system of feeder series means that even the meanest pay driver (*cough*Michael Herck!*cough*) has to have some talent. And right now, there's four possible candidates in GP2: Pastor Maldonado, Sergio Perez, Dani Clos and Giedo van der Garde. Maldonado is quick - especially on street circuits - but is as reckless as an early Felipe Massa. Dani Clos is also fast, but he's only just come good and I'd want to watch him some more before committing to him. And I don't know much about Giedo van der Garde. That leaves Perez, who is quick and consistent and brings sponsorship from Telmex. It's a slam-dunk, really: Sergio Perez becomes my second driver. His sponsorship means that my team is now officially known as Telmex Pure Koenigsegg. A bit of a mouthful, but I kind of like it. For his race engineer, I'd try and poach Mark Slade from Renault. He's Vitaly Petrov's race engineer at the moment, and I think his shool teahcer-like approach to his drivers is appropriate for a rookie.
On to test drivers. Heaven forbid one of my regulars should get injured or sick, so I need a backup. I was impressed at the way Giacomo Ricci was winning races in a DPR in the GP2 Asia series, so he'll be one of them. He's a bit of an unknown element, so unfortunately for Giacomo, he'll have to be my test driver. My reserve driver is another easy choice. Instead of looking at GP2, I'm crossing the pond to Formula 2, where I can think of only one man for the job: Kazim Vasiliauskas, who has been fast and consistent, but trapped in a series that seems to be going nowhere. I've also got my eye on Mihai Marinescu who has been solid in his debut year; Vasiliauskas gets the call-up as reserve driver (and second driver should Sutil decide against my team), with Marinescu joining Ricci in testing.
Now, I've got my drivers and my team established. Money is flowing in, but I need more to sustain myself. I need more sponsors, and for that I'm going to look to the three markets Bernie Ecclestone is trying to break into: Russia, America and South Africa. I'll acquire one of my technical partners from Russia: Lukoil. Banking and finance companies are also popular with teams right now, so I'll pick up Visa from America. And telecom providers are also popular, but I already have one in the shape of Telmex. For that reason, I'm going left of field and running with something a little decadent: African diamond consortium De Beers.
Finally, I'm going to need a livery. We'll go with something like this: light blue with streaks of white. Because of Lukoil's presence in the team, I'm also going to work red in as well. Since I like the conept of an asymmetrical livery (about the one thing BAR had going for their livery in 1999, ugly as it was), I'm going to work that in. First up, Telmex decals will go on the engine cowling and front wing, with the TM logo on the rear wing endplates and the space between the sidepod and front suspension mounting. Visa get the space on one of the sidepods and the front side of the rear wing, whilst Lukoil will occupy the the other sidepod and the back side of the rear wing. Visa and Lukoil's positions will be reversed between Sutil's car and Perez's. As for De Beers, they'll appear on the nose of the car and get several smaller decals like TW Steel on the Renault R30.
So, in summary:
Telmex Pure Koenigsegg
#26 - Adrian SUTIL
#27 - Sergio PEREZ
#43 - Kazim VASILIAUSKAS (Mihai MARINESCU, Giacomo RICCI)
Team Principal: Ray MALLOCK
Designer: Christian VON KOENIGSEGG
Race Engineers: Andrew SHOVLIN and Mark SLADE
Engine: COSWORTH, re-badged as KOENIGSEGG
Gearbox: X-TRAC
Tyres: PIRELLI
Fuels and Lubricants: GAZPROM NEFT
Sponsors: Telmex, Visa, De Beers
Livery based on this:
So, now I'm opening the door to you: how would you set up your own team? You can be as detailed or as vague as you like, as fantastical or realistic as your heart's desire. The above might be a lot, but that's just me - I have time on my hands.
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). The team name consist of my last name, Ford, and Despari, which is what T9 would spell out on my phone when I would type "Ferrari."
