Who would you like to see join in 2010?

Who would you like to see on the 2010 grid?

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prisonermonkeys

prisonermonkeys

Be Fearless
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Okay, I know there's a thread on the twenty six-car grid, but that's currently being dominated by talk of Ferrari's criticism of all the prospective new entrats. However, while the French courts were deliberating over their injuction, a list of teams that were preparing entries for 2010 was leaked and I thought a poll would be appropriate.

First of all, the poll options are only going to be teams included on the list. I know names like Hyundai and ART Grand Prix have been thrown about, but they're only really rumour. Aside from a minimalist website and vague press releases, we haven't heard anything about them.

Secondly, while everything is in disarray with five teams threatening to withdraw, I want you to assume that nobody is going anywhere except onto the grid. That means there are four options at most: the three teams that will gain the vacancies on the grid plus whoever would purcahse Toro Rosso.

The teams on the leaked list are:

Lola Racing Cars - have entred several times before
Racing Engineering - took last year's GP2 crown with Giorgio Pantano
Epsilon Euskadi - active in World Series by Renault, plus built the sexist LMP car ever last year
United States Grand Prix Engineering - Peter Windor's Formula One project
Prodrive/Aston Martin - failed to make 2008 grid after customer chassis row, considered buying what is now Brawn Grand Prix
iSport - won GP2 championship in 2007 with Timo Glock
Litespeed/Mike Gascoyne project - F3 team planning entry with aid from Mike Gascoyne
Ray Mallock Limited (RML) - seventy years' experience in various forms of motorsport
Wirth Engineering - from the people who brought you Simtek
Formtech - automotive parts builder

(Campos Racing was also included on the list, but team principal Adrian Campos has said they won't be filing an entry or 2010.)

Personally, I'm pretty sure USGPE and Prodrive will show up next year; they both appear to be pretty solid efforts, even if both Windsor and Richards seem unsure in the current climate. Normally I'd be inclined to say Lola as well, but I can't get over their dismal 1997 effort. It might have been twelve years ago, but Formula One has a long memory; I group Wirth Engineering in the same category. So unfortuantely my other two choices have to go three ways: iSport, Racing Engineering and Epsilon Euskadi as they all have experience racing in open-wheel formulae. If I had to pick one, I'd say Euskadi ... because of the three, they're the only ones without a generic name.
 
I'd like to see Aston Martin/Lola, but I can't help but think that on every grid start at least one of the Aston Martin engines is going to catch fire and explode. :/

If anything, I can probably say it's safe to assume USGPE is a dead cert. All the news is pointing in the right direction, for a start. Apart from the budget cap (budgetgate?) thing, that is, but this being F1, everything eventually works out, I suppose.
 
Who cares Ferrari won't be racing so it won't be F1.

It's just be some cost capped formula coincidently named F1.

I believe these 'potential' entrants wouldn't be entrants if it wasn't for the cost cap. So aren't they just as bad as people perceive "Ferrari" to be? (those that don't merely just hate Ferrari). Which is unfair as other teams have also threatened walk-out.

I mean they're also to blame as their attitude is, "we don't want to race here because we want to come and be immediately competitive and it's not fair that some teams spend $100 million plus, how can we compete..."

If you want to compete in F1 and get the prestige that comes with being successful in it, put up or shut up. It's no-ones business to tell how much you're allowed to spend in aiming for what you seek. That's other formula's not F1.

You don't see other sports restricting cost, "come to the America's cup, but make sure you don't spend more than $50 million, cause we don't care if you're the richest person in the world, you got to compete fairly with the person who only has $50 million"

Other sports have luxury tax type penalties, why couldn't this be the compromise???

Increase the cap threshold to $75-80 million, for every million spent over this an additional million is 'taxed' and redistributed to those under the 'cap'. They quasi get a budget increase and soon enough the bigger teams will compromise how much they want to assist their competition.

Still BS for Formula 1... but something I could live with, begrudgingly.

Otherwise for these entrants, get better sponsors, bigger budgets or leave well enough alone and go play in your sandpit.

F1 has always been about the epitomy of motorsport technology (maybe equalled in Group B days), you don't get right of entry on budget budgets.

/rant
 
This isn't about the budget cap or anything related to it, so please don't take it off-topic by going on a rant about how it won't be Formula One without Ferrari. We already have a thread for that, and to be perfectly honest, I don't care. Rather, this thread is for discussing which of the potential new entries we'd like to see on the grid, Ferrari or no. Please see that it stays that way.
 
I'm afraid the thread IS about cap.

As your list of 'oh goodie! who would you like to see join F1' wouldn't be a 'list' if it wasn't precisely because of it.

And if the above statements weren't true...

a) which of the cheapskate's mentioned above would withdraw their 'interest'
b) where was this thread last year or even 6 months ago, even start of season...

I'm not getting at you Do you race? I understand you're a F1 enthusiast. Even you must realise basically all those mentioned in the poll are only entering IF the cap eventuates.

So they actually don't want to enter F1, they want conditional entry.
 
Their entry conditional, but I made it pretty clear that I want you to set that aside. Assume that each of the prospective entrants could make the grid with or without the budget cap, and then choose who you'd like to see on the grid and why. That's all I ask; I don't want this thread bogged down with debating the budget cap because there's already a place for that and thus makes this thread redundant, which it's clearly not intended to be.
 
hellnback
I'm afraid the thread IS about cap.

a) which of the cheapskate's mentioned above would withdraw their 'interest'
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USGPE has been planned for long before the talk of a budget cap. I am sure that they would love a budget cap so they can potentially be more competitive, but I think they will enter even without a budget cap. I don't think any of the others will.
 
Fine... who do I want in F1???

<Fantasy fade out...>

Audi F1 Team:
Having experimented with LMP & DTM for many years, Audi stops factory support to concentrate on a full factory F1 assault. The CEO comments "for many years Audi has challenged manufacturers we directly compete with both on and off the racetrack, and those we don't necesarily so much, Today, I would like to proudly announce Audi intends to raise it's already considerable profile to those held in myth. Next season Audi will compete in F1 with the intention of surplanting Ferrari as the premier contender. With this Audi intends on developing and releasing a new breed of supercar to where Porsche, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Ferrari and any other name you throw up cannot ignore and will need to contend with."

Porsche F1
Porsche CEO at press conference "Presently there is debate of which manufacturer has the greatest racing heritage, today Porsche will provide the answer. We are entering F1 next season to definitively end this question. I have no doubt that our engineers are the best in the world, next year our competitors in the highest echelon of motorsport will realise, they're fighting for second place."

....

<Reality fade in>

<sarcasm mode on> Oh that's right they both have enough respect to know you don't buy into F1 with $50 million </sarcasm off>

Why then have you only offered the one's who have expressed interest in the cheapened F1???

:)
 
hellnback
Why then have you only offered the one's who have expressed interest in the cheapened F1???
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If you go back and read the first post, you'll see why: the eleven options - ten now that Campos have withdrawn - are those confirmed to have expressed interest by means of a document that was leaked during Ferrari's injunction. So either choose four of them (to fill the three vacancies and one to purchase Toro Rosso), or go somewhere else. Audi and Porsche have already said they have absolutely no interest in entering the sport. Take your sarcasm somewhere else and let everyone discuss the topic at hand instead of running the thread off its rails with your ranting against the budget cap.
 
I'm most excited about USGPE and Prodrive but I have my eyes on Formtech too which is basically Super Aguri with a new name. Most of the staff was carried over as well.
 
I wonder, Euskadi? I never heard anything from them... Plus, they have proven that looks and speed don't go hand in hand - their ee1 was a pretty spectacular failure. They and Tokai University were pretty disgraceful at the last Le Mans.


I voted USGPE, because they seem the most serious - and might even encourage Bernie to rid us of a pesky Tilkedrome in favour of Indianapolis.
 
Hasn´t Prodrive already said they don´t want to enter F1 under the current circumstances? They want stability in the sport , so right now, they are not interested. At least that´s the way I understood it.

Myself, I don´t actually care who´s coming that much, but I want Prodrive to stay in sportscars. Lola, sure, but they too shlould stay out of F1, so that they can provide for other motosports instead. USGP is already bent on F1 the way I see it, so they´re pretty much a no-brainer.
I care much more for who´s leaving, and if the ones who have threatened to leave does so, it is my sentiments that F1 in it´s current form will die off very quickly, and become something else.
 
Metar
I wonder, Euskadi? I never heard anything from them... Plus, they have proven that looks and speed don't go hand in hand - their ee1 was a pretty spectacular failure. They and Tokai University were pretty disgraceful at the last Le Mans.
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Knowing someone whose raced for Epsilon, they're a pretty unorganised bunch who find it hard to concentrate on more than one project at a time. If they do enter F1, their sportscar project will surely fall by the wayside.
 
TheCracker
Knowing someone whose raced for Epsilon, they're a pretty unorganised bunch who find it hard to concentrate on more than one project at a time. If they do enter F1, their sportscar project will surely fall by the wayside.
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Well, they seem to be backpedalling in both Le Mans and the WSR. About the only thing they'd have going for them is a clos association with USGPE given that Windsor's European base will be with them in Basque country.

Then again, maybe they can pull through with the funding provded by FOM ...
 
I voted for the 3 obvious choices - Lola, Prodrive and USGPE - not much to say there, they're all interesting entries and Lola in particular can't do worse than 1997.

I also voted for Wirth Engineering and Litespeed because this is the prime time for the little teams who try hard but spectacularly fail to come in, I've missed these teams since 1997! Especially Litespeed, it will be very interesting to see how far an F3 team gets. These kind of teams will then be able to show how bad some other drivers are with superior machinery.
 
Do you race?
Well, they seem to be backpedalling in both Le Mans and the WSR. About the only thing they'd have going for them is a clos association with USGPE given that Windsor's European base will be with them in Basque country.

Then again, maybe they can pull through with the funding provded by FOM ...
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There's no reason to believe a team that failed to produce a competitive LMP1 (even compared to other petrols - the Dome S102, on equally-low funds, was 10-15 seconds a lap quicker than the ee1!) will produce a competitive F1 car, never mind their history of failing to run a complicated project, as Cracker said.
 
I voted Lola and Prodrive/Aston Martin. Both these names are known and if Ferrari leaves F1 will need known names.
 
They are missing from your poll list and have no chance of getting a car ready for the 2010 season but I'd love to see LOTUS back in F1.
 
Last I heard was that the Team Lotus name isn't owned by Lotus, last I remember of it was that Pacific had the rights to it? (or at the very least they inherited the team's resources).
I'd like to see Lotus back but it wouldn't be the real Lotus because they don't have the rights to the name. Or at leat this is what I assume considering what happened with Pacific.
 
GTP_Grenade
They are missing from your poll list and have no chance of getting a car ready for the 2010 season but I'd love to see LOTUS back in F1.
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There's a reason for why they are missing from the list: they were not included in the document leaked during Ferrari's injunction that contained the names of teams preparing 2010 entries.

Also, the poll is a little bt redundant as it does not contain Campos Racing. I was under the impression whey were not entering, but it was a misinterpretation of an artile on my part: GP2 team Barwa Addax - the people who purchased Campos - are not fielding an entry.
 
darkfinal
I'd love to see Epsilon Euskadi joining F1. Mostly because of Joan Villadelprat, but also because I'm half basque. :D
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Well, as has been previously stated: it's not likely. I might like to see them, too, but if they're as unorganised as people make out, they'll probably come in last in terms of teams most likely to make the grid.
 
26 cars is the limit and, since current contracts require two cars and presence at every GP of the season (barring special circumstances), that means 13 teams. I say, bring on pre-qualifying!
 
Would love to see a U.S. team.

Don't know how good they would be,but still would like to see it.
 
Metar
I say, bring on pre-qualifying!
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But would sponsors be alright with that? If they show up to a Grand Prix with no guarantee of the cars consistently making the grid, are they going to be interested in sponsoring the teams? No sponsorship equals no money, no money means they can't compete.

That said, the way most modern circuits are constructed would allow for more than twenty-six cars. Places like Shanghai and Fuji could comfortably hold thirty. It's Monaco that's the only cause for concern. But then again, I think FOM would prefer thirteen teams that could compete rather than fifteen with a few slap-dash efforts, even if there is a provision for thirty cars.
 
Sponsors could apply for a sponsorship on a team and if the team make it in, they get the sponsorship, but if they don't make it, the sponsor can withdraw the application. So pre qualifying is not a bad idea.
 
Do you race?
But would sponsors be alright with that? If they show up to a Grand Prix with no guarantee of the cars consistently making the grid, are they going to be interested in sponsoring the teams? No sponsorship equals no money, no money means they can't compete.

That said, the way most modern circuits are constructed would allow for more than twenty-six cars. Places like Shanghai and Fuji could comfortably hold thirty. It's Monaco that's the only cause for concern. But then again, I think FOM would prefer thirteen teams that could compete rather than fifteen with a few slap-dash efforts, even if there is a provision for thirty cars.
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That's why we can have first-class sponsors for the equally first-class teams, while lesser companies can afford a chance to appear in a low-budget car that will make it to the races from time to time. Let small sponsors come in along with small teams!

As for the Epsilon Euskadi thing... Yes, they don't stand a chance. Just let me daydream for once, will ya!
 

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