The rise of the 'B' teams....

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Blake

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haswell00
With rumours of RBR buying Minardi, and the ability (in 2008) to buy complete chassis/engines off of teams (as well as dropping the $48m bond) there could be a few front running teams buying extra team slots and running 4 cars.

McLaren in particular, it is reported, are already setting up deals to run a 'B' team in 2008.

What are your thoughts on the rise of the 'B' teams?

Blake
 
It sort of takes away from what makes the sport unique from other single seaters.
Having B Teams effectively means duplicates of front runner cars with back of the pack drivers.
*shrug*
I like the idea of each team having a unique car. It promotes creativity between the teams in how the rules are interpreted.

Plus, I think a lot of these B teams will drop out eventually. They'll either run out of money and/or sponsorship money. Unless the B team cars are at the front, they're not going to get air time during races. Unless you're like Red Bull where you just have money out the wazoo.
 
If RBR buys Minardi it will be for the most part a Ferrari "c" team.

I don't have issue with main-line teams sporting "B" teams. I doubt it will be EXACTALY the same car, close but not the same as the main team. It will give younger drivers and good drivers without race seats a chance to race.

I'd rather see a semi-competive McLaren B team, Ferrari B and C teams than always at the back of the grid Minardis and Jordons with drivers who don't belong in F1.

Plus a grid of 22 cars sounds better than a grid of 20.

I am surprised that McLaren is doing this though....
 
hey'll either run out of money and/or sponsorship money. Unless the B team cars are at the front, they're not going to get air time during races. Unless you're like Red Bull where you just have money out the wazoo.
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haha i just find taht funny. I really dont get where redbull gets all their money from despite how overpriced their drinks are.
 
I think it's a great idea and one that is long overdue. Remember back in the 60's when a privateer like Rob Walker could buy a Lotus and sometimes beat the factory team with a talented driver like Stirling Moss.

It will put more cars on the grid and F1 will be much more competitive. The increased fields will allow more drivers to get into F1, deserving drivers who have been shut out like Sebastien Bordais or Dan Wheldon.

They really should go one step farther with this idea and allow teams to enter a third or fourth car. Let them hire a local hotshoe to pilot one of them. Who wouldn't like to see a few good American drivers in the field? Or Monza with a Ferrari driven by an Italian?
 
kensei
I'd rather see a semi-competive McLaren B team, Ferrari B and C teams than always at the back of the grid Minardis and Jordons with drivers who don't belong in F1.
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Ditto!
 
i like the idea as long as the team orders arent to bad and the cars can at least run mid field. 24 or 26 cars on the grid would be very cool.
 
kensei
I'd rather see a semi-competive McLaren B team, Ferrari B and C teams than always at the back of the grid Minardis and Jordons with drivers who don't belong in F1.
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Exactly...

Sad as it will be to see Jordan and Minardi go, it's bordering on pointless to see them go on in F1. It's one thing back when backmarker teams might sometimes run well in a race or two, but that's just not the case in the past 5-10 years. Minardi and Jordan don't even race each other anymore, and they're tail-enders. It's their money...
 
I think the idea of a 'B' team would open up many possibilities, you could have say a Team A Championship and a Team B Championship, Contructors would be much more closely contested I think if you add points from both the A and B cars, but theres just the money question, it costs a hell of a lot to build a F1 car and now you would need to double that cost for the B team, smaller budgeted teams like Williams may suffer if they go for a B team.
 
The costs wouldn't be any greater for the "A" team, since they're talking about selling the previous year's cars and engines to the "B" teams.

This is a way of increasing the number of cars on the grid and getting more competitive cars in the series. Two things that are nothing but positives for F1. About time they ditched the elitist attitude, at least on this part.

And those who put down Minardi have no grasp of F1 history. Back when F1 had 35-40 cars showing up at each race, the Minardis usually qualified well and finished 6th in the constructors championship in 1993, IIRC. The only thing they lack is a works engine deal and the cash that goes along with it. If they had that, they could certainly be higher on the grid.
 
I think it's a reasonable idea, although it will be difficult in times of extreme regulation change, since the customers may not have anything to drive.
 
Do you really think there will be years of extreme regulation change post-2008? Of course at some point there will be, but I'd expect the rules to stay pretty stable until 2012, when the next concorde runs out.

Blake
 

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