More Teams!

[N. Jones]

This makes me happy, not only as the FGP commish but as a fan.

http://www.planet-f1.com/news/3213/9068 ... xtend-Grid (http://www.planet-f1.com/news/3213/9068976/FIA-Reveals-Plans-To-Extend-Grid)
"The International Automobile Federation (FIA) announced on Wednesday that it has started the process of selecting a new Formula One team to be added to the roster, in 2015 or 2016. "

[Firstgear]

Just because they're looking for new entrants, doesn't mean they'll find any (suckers) that qualify.
The article also mentions something else - almost all teams are struggling financially. This points to a bigger problem within F1.
Ferrari & Lotus finished 3rd & 4th in the constructors. Ferrari can afford to hire two of the most sought after drivers, and Lotus has to go with a pay driver to survive. The pay system is flawed. I think the special treatment of Ferrari needs to end, and the money needs to be spread out more evenly. I'm not saying all teams get equal prize money - but the scales need to be adjusted towards the back a little more.

[N. Jones]

Yes but I hope the cost cap and the V6 will mean BMW and maybe VW-branded-as-Audi come in.
It is a hope but I'd like to see it.
Lastly, I know new teams struggle. ALL new teams in any sport struggle!

[Mark]

I suppose Brawn did ok for a new team, I suppose ;)

[truefan72]

Just because they're looking for new entrants, doesn't mean they'll find any (suckers) that qualify.
The article also mentions something else - almost all teams are struggling financially. This points to a bigger problem within F1.
Ferrari & Lotus finished 3rd & 4th in the constructors. Ferrari can afford to hire two of the most sought after drivers, and Lotus has to go with a pay driver to survive. The pay system is flawed. I think the special treatment of Ferrari needs to end, and the money needs to be spread out more evenly. I'm not saying all teams get equal prize money - but the scales need to be adjusted towards the back a little more.


well said
revenue sharing is the only way the sport survives
along with immediate payouts and not that one year delay for the top 10.
I don't see CVC and bernie furloughing their pay for a year.

You can always have extra incentives for winning and championships, but no more secret lopsided agreements with ferrari and others. The added ( and proper) revenue will ensure the long term stability of the sport, end "pay drivers" and incentivize 1 or 2 more teams to join. They can keep that absurdly high entry fee, and make a team wait another year to start receiving part of the revenue sharing. then after 4 years, they qualify for full and equal amount of the pot.

As to the prospective entrants, I still say a penske, andretti/green, or current gp2 team is the way to go. that being said...
I would love to see toyota return since they already have the infrastructure, or sell the assets to vw/Audi and let them finally field an F1 team. That would be my dream

[zako85]

Yes but I hope the cost cap and the V6 will mean BMW and maybe VW-branded-as-Audi come in.
It is a hope but I'd like to see it.
Lastly, I know new teams struggle. ALL new teams in any sport struggle!

The cost cap is impossible to enforce and a manufacturer like VW would not want to abide by the cost cap agreement anyways. And I don't get the point of the cost caps. It's basically dumbing the sport down to the least common denominator. What's the point? So that Marussia or Caterham doesn't go bankrupt? Why don't they and others just impose a voluntary cost cap on themselves so they don't spend beyond their means?

[Mia 01]

FIA is afraid that they are loosing a few team in the near future and wants some backmarkers to fill up the grid.

[Storm]

Do we need more teams like HRT/Marussia and what not?

Unless its a biggie like VW/Porsche/Audi/BMW or in any of their avatars, a new team will not excite anybody I think.

[Robinho]

Someone always has to be at the back, better to be some low budget backmarkers where engineers and drivers can prove themselves rather than a marquee team who pull out due to poor results. The more teams, then the more drivers involved, which should result in less drivers losing their spots due to funded lesser talented drivers

[Storm]

By that same token, more the teams with less resources, more they are inclined to fill up their slots with pay drivers.

[zako85]

At this point I am inclined to concede that they need to allow the customer chassis teams, but with one condition. Any team finishing in top 4 should not be allowed to sell a chassis to customers. This would allow teams like Sauber to make a little revenue by selling its chassis to customers, and the customers will have a real chance to break into Q2 or even score points, without going bankrupt.

[Mark]

I think we need more engine suppliers before we need new teams tbh.

[Firstgear]

With the old reg's, the engine was pretty much 'regulated' out of the design equation. Virtually everything was restricted, from max rpm's to angle of the V, so there was no real incentive for anyone to try to outdo another team by using a different engine.
Hopefully the new era with turbo & ERS & maximum fuel amounts will change that. Maybe we'll see more interested parties trying to out design each other - if the regulations allow designers the freedom to design.

[N4D13]

Just because they're looking for new entrants, doesn't mean they'll find any (suckers) that qualify.
The article also mentions something else - almost all teams are struggling financially. This points to a bigger problem within F1.
Ferrari & Lotus finished 3rd & 4th in the constructors. Ferrari can afford to hire two of the most sought after drivers, and Lotus has to go with a pay driver to survive. The pay system is flawed. I think the special treatment of Ferrari needs to end, and the money needs to be spread out more evenly. I'm not saying all teams get equal prize money - but the scales need to be adjusted towards the back a little more.
I think that your argument is flawed. While there's little to defend the idea that Ferrari should get special treatment or the fact that there should be such a harsh money distribution, you are leaving out the fact that Ferrari is a powerful, worldwide-known brand that sells lots of expensive cars a year and has other sources of income such as Corsa Clienti, while that is certainly not the case with Lotus. So I suppose that Ferrari's example, and to a lesser extent Mercedes' and McLaren's, would not be the best to illustrate your point.

[DazzlaF1]

Great news, Id like to see the money more evenly spread out though to help the grid survive because the more teams and cars on the grid, the more drivers in the lower categories get chaces in the sport.

Secondly though, if there is more than one good candidate, give out two spots on the grid, after all, the rules permit a maximum of 13 teams and 26 cars and fans would love to see that again

[Firstgear]

Just because they're looking for new entrants, doesn't mean they'll find any (suckers) that qualify.
The article also mentions something else - almost all teams are struggling financially. This points to a bigger problem within F1.
Ferrari & Lotus finished 3rd & 4th in the constructors. Ferrari can afford to hire two of the most sought after drivers, and Lotus has to go with a pay driver to survive. The pay system is flawed. I think the special treatment of Ferrari needs to end, and the money needs to be spread out more evenly. I'm not saying all teams get equal prize money - but the scales need to be adjusted towards the back a little more.
I think that your argument is flawed. While there's little to defend the idea that Ferrari should get special treatment or the fact that there should be such a harsh money distribution, you are leaving out the fact that Ferrari is a powerful, worldwide-known brand that sells lots of expensive cars a year and has other sources of income such as Corsa Clienti, while that is certainly not the case with Lotus. So I suppose that Ferrari's example, and to a lesser extent Mercedes' and McLaren's, would not be the best to illustrate your point.
I guess I was making the assumption that Ferrari would base their financial decision making in a way that would make the F1 portion of the company either profitable, or at least not a financial drain, on the company as a whole. What you seem to be saying is that they'd be willing to pour some (maybe a lot) of the profits of the whole company to prop up the F1 component. I don't think I would agree with that, but I don't really know either way. I would imagine the F1 component would run deficits in some years but try to be profitable overall. I also don't think a company like Mercedes would get into F1 to lose money either.

[zako85]

With the old reg's, the engine was pretty much 'regulated' out of the design equation. Virtually everything was restricted, from max rpm's to angle of the V, so there was no real incentive for anyone to try to outdo another team by using a different engine.
Hopefully the new era with turbo & ERS & maximum fuel amounts will change that. Maybe we'll see more interested parties trying to out design each other - if the regulations allow designers the freedom to design.

The new engines are also fairly regulated. The engine configuration is fixed. Max RPM is restricted. Fuel flow, etc. Mounting points. But the rumor is that the engineers are saying that there is still a lot of freedom. Being new engines, it will be a while before all engines reach an optimal combination of power, fuel economy, and reliability. The engine development will be eventually frozen again though.

[TheFamousEccles]

Can't see Ferrari wearing an even playing field, in terms of revenues distribution and favouritism, mores the pity. Sometimes I wish someone would call their bluff and send them packing. The threats that get trotted out periodically to break away from F1 if the FIA don't cave to their demands are tedious.

[schmenke]

Can't see Ferrari wearing an even playing field, in terms of revenues distribution and favouritism, mores the pity. Sometimes I wish someone would call their bluff and send them packing. The threats that get trotted out periodically to break away from F1 if the FIA don't cave to their demands are tedious.

Won't happen. The Concorde Agreement was just re-signed, sealing in the revenue distribution for the next 6 years.

[Mark]

With the old reg's, the engine was pretty much 'regulated' out of the design equation. Virtually everything was restricted, from max rpm's to angle of the V, so there was no real incentive for anyone to try to outdo another team by using a different engine.
Hopefully the new era with turbo & ERS & maximum fuel amounts will change that. Maybe we'll see more interested parties trying to out design each other - if the regulations allow designers the freedom to design.

There is also the issue that the engines were 'homologated' several years ago, so that changes for the sake of performance were banned.

[dj_bytedisaster]

We would be off to a good start if Bernie stopped milking off 50% of F1's revenue. Marussia could easily operate on a 100M budget if the toad from Suffolk stopped stealing half of the money and distributing the other half in a grossly unfair manner. Oh, and bring in customer cars. Marussia running customer Williams chassis would be more finacially sound and more competitive than having to run a factory on a shoe-string budget and therefore coming up with a turd each year.

[AndyL]

Oh, and bring in customer cars. Marussia running customer Williams chassis would be more finacially sound and more competitive than having to run a factory on a shoe-string budget and therefore coming up with a turd each year.

But how financially sound will Williams be, if they themselves are trailing far behind Torro Rosso, Force India or Sauber with their customer Red Bull, Mercedes or Ferrari chassis?

[N. Jones]

I think if costs can go down the new teams (any new team) can have a chance at success.

[urabus-denoS2000]

I think costumer cars go against the spirit of F1 racing, and quite a lot of people are against it.

Also, not all new teams need to be painfully slow, there have been examples of good results instantly. With a heatlhy budget, intelligent and skilled people and the right approach, anything can be done :)

[Mark]

There's quite often customer cars unofficially. You can't say that Torro Rosso has nothing to do with the Red Bull car. Going back further Ligier blatantly ran just repainted Benetton chassis.

[N. Jones]

I will say that costs will have to go down if any new team is going to compete.

[Mia 01]

If the cost cap is to low, F1 will be no longer!!

[Bagwan]

Is it just me , or does it seem a bit too much of a coincidence that the name "Brabham" has come up just recently , in regards to being denied a spot in Formula E , and there just happens to be a slot opening in F1 ?

[RS]

Haas has registered an interest: http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/3053 ... g-f1-team/ (http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/305377/nascar-s-haas-interested-in-starting-f1-team/)

I guess with Dallara building their car they should be better than the last great American effort, USF1.

[Tazio]

It's really way too early to say, but I don't know how they could possibly do any worse. :stareup:

[rjbetty]

I've submitted an entry for the Vauxhall Astra F1 Team. I hope I get a place on the grid!

I'm waiting for a $48 Million budget from N.Jones though.

[steveaki13]

I've submitted an entry for the Vauxhall Astra F1 Team. I hope I get a place on the grid!

I'm waiting for a $48 Million budget from N.Jones though.

:rolleyes: One top 45 finish and Fantasy GP and Vauxhall F1 team think they are ready for F1. :D ;)

[N. Jones]

LOL!

[steveaki13]

I have always said that I want a full 26 car grid, regardless of the fact that they may struggle like Marussia and Caterham.

I really hope they could find 2 teams to take the slots. However the cost is still to high for many new teams to be viable.

[Tazio]

I think this freakin' guy is serious! :dozey:...Haas that is! :angel:

[rjbetty]

Hmmm Haas and Dallara? Those names don't have a history of F1 success. Dallara recently built HRT's first car, which was also reused by Sauber in 2013.

Though they did get a couple of podiums wirh Alex Caffi and JJ Lehto when the cars were run by Scuderia Italia.

I want to see Scuderia Italia come back with those gorgeous red cars!

[rjbetty]

I have always said that I want a full 26 car grid, regardless of the fact that they may struggle like Marussia and Caterham.

I really hope they could find 2 teams to take the slots. However the cost is still to high for many new teams to be viable.

Oh yeah I really wanna see 26 cars regardless too! It creates more variety, more colour schemes, and more drivers.

Bring back Pacific and Forti.

[steveaki13]

Bring back Pacific and Forti.

Amen Brother :D

[henners88]

More teams and reduce the calendar to 16 races, that would do.

It would be nice to see some of the old names back like Leyton House, Footwork Arrows, Ligier, Forti, Minardi... But F1 is far too expensive and is declining in interest. The only people interested in the sport now for commercial reasons are banks and engine manufacturers. The days of the independent are over sadly.

[steveaki13]

Sadly you are right Henners.

I honestly wonder how long F1 can survive with the direction its heading In many different ways. I.e Costs, coverage, silly rules.

[Malbec]

Hmmm Haas and Dallara? Those names don't have a history of F1 success. Dallara recently built HRT's first car, which was also reused by Sauber in 2013.

Dallara delivered what they were paid for, ie not much. If HRT actually paid them more than the bare minimum required to design a functioning car Dallara would have developed the design into something more competitive. It actually speaks volumes about Dallara's quality that they managed to design a car that passed the safety tests and gave the Marussias something to think about given the pittance they were paid.

Given Dallara's outstanding history and resources as long as Haas gives them a decent budget they will be fine and they have underused facilities available at Indy if they want to do the work in the US. If Haas is sensible he will marry up what he already has with a base in Europe and go with Dallara and that appears to be exactly what he is doing.

As for Sauber using HRT chassis in 2013 I don't think so. They were bought up by an enthusiast to use in EuroBOSS.