Poland an extremely poor country? That's insane and totally untrue.
I visit Poland (Krakow in particular) quite frequently since I have friends living there and can assure you that the standard of living there is not far of from Western-Europe. It's not a poor country at all.
On top of that the Polish economy has suffered far less from the crisis as other European countries and their industry is expanding with several high tech
companies starting business over the past years. One notable industrial company that's getting very strong on the European market is Relpol.
Have you ever visited Poland? I doubt it; it's not the same country as it was 20 years ago; it's growing rapidly and it's certainly much richer than most of the other Eastern European countries apart from Slovenia.

Adrian Campos said that they will offer a test to sportscar driver Antonio Garcia and appart from Pedro de la Rosa (who is rumoured to have signed already) and Marc Gene some other drivers were also named on their wishlist: Bruno Senna, Vitaly Petrov, Roldan Rodriguez and Javier Villa. I assume they're also talking to Giorgio Pantano and Lucas di Grassi.

I personally don't think Rodriguez or Villa or good enough; decent driver but nothing more. The most talented Spaniards are actually contracted to Manor (Roberto Merhi in F3) and Torro Rosso (Jaime Alguersuari) and then there is also Andy Soucek who nobody has mentioned; I rate Soucek a higher as Rodriguez, Villa or Adrian Valles. And Soucek is leading the F2 series in convincing fashion. They really should consider Soucek if they want an all Spanish line-up but Rodriguez & Villa probably have a lot of financial backing.

If I were in Campos shoes I wouldn't pick either de la Rosa (whom I think is better than Gene) or Gene. I would go for somebody like Nick Heidfeld or if he is unavailable someone like Christian Klien who is still young, has experience and is quite fast. Pantano is a great choice too, he deserves his F1 comeback so much. Petrov deserves a shot as well; he keeps on improving and drives excellent this year. A Russian in F1 would be good for marketing reasons as well.

I was under the impression Campos would only be annoucing one of their drivers at Valencia, and that it would likely be the team leade: de la Rosa or Gene. There was an article in a Spanish tabloid connecting Vitaly Petrov to the second Campos seat, but despite it saying what I think, I'm still dsiregarding it. I still think Petrov is a very good choice, though.

According to motorsport-total.com (they are refering to Spanish sports paper Marca) we can expect some news from Campos F1 team this weekend: drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Vitali Petrov, sponsors BBVA bank and perhaps Telefónica. Initial silver-black livery was reportedly dropped due to sponsors and car will probably be blue with red-yellow (Spanish flag) nosecone.
Bruno Senna was initially considered as a No 2 driver but his backing from Banco Santander created a sponsor conflict.

Multi-coloured car and Latino roots? That will never work.

Silver/black sounds too McLaren.

I think a lot of the livery will depend upon who the sponsors are, unless Campos can do what BMW did and convince them to run logos in the team colours, not their actual colours. For example, if Petrov is signed and a Russian company sponsors, it's likely to be Lukoil or Gazprom (as Telefonicia is allegedly cnnected with the team and the Russians don't have much beyond natural resourses and telcos when it comes to bi companies). Lukoil's logo is red, whereas Gazprom's is light blue. So if either of them were to sponsor the team, the livery would probably incorporate red or light blue somehow (if Telefonicia is indeed involved, I like the idea of Gazprom's light blue segueing into Telefonicia's dark blue).

BBVA is dark blue too ...

Adrian was due to be making an announcement today in Valencia, but its been called off.

Apparently there are a few issues with the de la Rosa deal, so the good news Adrian had hoped to deliver at his home race has had to be postponed.

Also there is talk that Nelson Piquet's name has entered the mix for the second driver spot, further complicating things. As mentioned in earlier posts Petrov's been mooted as a potential second driver, so too Lucas di Grassi and Giorgio Pantano.

De La Rosa is saying to the Spanish TV that he's eager of taking part in the races and that is considering places in the new teams.


De la Rosa piensa en correr: "Quiero divertirme"
http://www.lasextadeportes.com/formula1/no...vertirme/166871

Yeah, I know. That's where I got the idea of the segue, because BBVA is darker than Gazprom and lighter than Telefonicia.

Of course, that's still assuming a lot, and not just about the sponsors.

Q & A with Campos's Daniel Audetto

The part about Cosworth is very interesting, he's confirming that they were obliged to use the cosworth and that they would like to see the new team doing so.

This only shows the tragedy in Max' plan. I support the plan to have a non-manufacturer supply cheap engines, but Max' plan to let the Cosworth rew higher and be changed more often was plain stupidity.
Campos wants the "new BMW" team to run Cossies because they no longer think their engine will be superior.

No, they want that team to use Cosworths because what is good for the goose should be good for the gander.

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/deportes/eq...elpepudep_7/Tes

- Campos Meta has joined FOTA and Adrian Campos will assist to the FOTA meeting that will take place in Singapur next weekend.
- FIA has visited the team installations showing interest on the progress made in the fabrication process. The report issued after the visit has been very positive.
- Adrian Campos has said that they're very happy with Cosworth's work on the engine developing

From Joe Saward's blog ....

"The latest rumours in Europe are that Campos is really struggling. There are reports that the Dallara chassis is behind schedule and that the team does not have enough money to complete the task and that it is considering taking over the programme and doing its own thing in Spain, with backing from some local or regional authorities in the country. That does not sound very promising."

And from F1 Live, Pedro De La Rosa is not yet ready to sign with Campos because of fears the team won't make it to the grid next year.


Isn't there any good news for a change?

Some young drivers are having trouble to find sponsorship because investors doesn't trust in the new teams, they are afraid that they wonn't make it to the grid. But I guess that issue deserves its own thread.. as for Campos, here in Argentina they are saying Campos still hasn't made the payment to FIA, so they are in trouble I guess...

I'm so proud of the due diligence work the FIA did when vetting these new teams.

But, (ever the optimist), should we not wait until the start of the next season before condemning the new entrants?....

True.

Well, it's not really the teams' fault that after being accepted for the championship the FIA decided to change the conditions regarding budget, engines, etc. that had been promised, making them not so reasonable for small, "poor" teams like this.

Campos' thing was that they could do it under the budget cap. I believe they have already complained that it has been abolished. And if the stories of Dallara missing their deadline are true, then it's Dallara's fault, not Campos'.

This is true, but that impacts the running costs not the setup costs.

The budget cap affects the eventual running costs of the team in the long term, and they have a valid complaint there, but that would not have changed the setup costs. It's up to Campos to ensure their suppliers stick to the agreements, and if they default you would hope they have penalty clauses in their contract.

Well, Joe Saward is the only person I've seen reporting that they're in trouble, and the tone of the article - "And this week's team-in-trouble is ..." - makes me wonder if he's not just having a bit of a go on the side at the constant rumours of teams fallng behind. USF1 was reported as in trouble, then they showed us stuff from their factory. Lotus was said to be in dire straits, and hen we got pictures of their car. Saward's only evidence seems to be the fact that Campos have said nothing except dispatching an e-mail to annouce they were actually known as Campos Meta1. As we learned from Manor and their tight-lipped approach to the entry process, you can keep your head down and get a lot done. Maybe Adrian Campos figures he's got better things to do than tell the world exactly what he's doing. Campos' complaint about the budget cap apparently came shortly after the signing of the new Concorde Agreement, and that was months ago, so if it really is a problem that threatens the team, you'd think they would have cottoned on by now.

Putting all that aside, I don't really trust Saward. I don't know, he just seems to jump on things really quickly and he ends to rumour-monger a bit. The only other reference I've heard to Campos possibly being in trouble was from Keith Collantine - someone who I do think is pretty good - and it wasn't a mention by name. One of the new teams has supposedly refrained from signing the Resource Restriction Agreement; the article actually comes from the Autosport premium section, and I don't have access, so I don't know who wrote it or what the full article contains. But there is no reference to the team by name, and nor is there anything to indicate who it might be from the brief extract Collantine posted:

However, the wording of it seems to suggest that in order to sign the Concorde Agreement, teams must have first signed the RRA. And if Campos had not signed the Concorde, we'd have known about it by now.

Easily solved. The sponsorship parties can place their money in a escrow account. Campos can go to a bank and borrow against that money.

If they are strugglig so bad why are they planning on building a new plant and a new race track for 2011?

http://www.laverdad.es/murcia/20091024/dep...ia-20091024.htm
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/79572

That's part of Saward's argment: that Dallara keep missing their deadlines to finish the chassis, so Campos are simply going to take whatever they've got and finish it themselves. He paints that as being a very bad move, because the suggestion is that they're going to rely on whatever funding they can get.

While it'd be nice to see a Dallara car back to Formula 1, I wonder if all these years building cars for spec series where they don't need to compete against other manufacturers have made them lose a competitive edge. This is just a wild guess of mine, but it might be one of the reasons for these delays - they're very used to building open-wheelers, but not like this!

I'd like to see something official regarding this.

Bernie used the excuse that Brawn were a new team to avoid paying them money due to the team (as Honda). I can see the same situation with Qadbak. They have taken over an existing team, but they could in themselves now be considered a new team, and therefore not entitled to any priority.

Dallara did the early work on the Ferrari F60, and claimed they learned a lot about the 2009 regulations doing it, so the mistakes of the F60 won't be repeated.


I'm just quoting the article, and I don't have the full text since I don't have access to Autosport Premium.

You quoted it correctly, but it's a journalists opinion, with some wishful thinking throwing in. There hasnt been any official word (that I'm aware of) to say Qadbak would take priority. As far as I'm aware they are first (only) reserve should one of the other teams fail, or unless an agreement can be reached to allow 14 teams. Would also be interesting to know what the milestone date is for deciding if a team is going to fail to make the grid.

F3 is not a spec series, they simply build a car superior to any other F3 manufacturer.

I concur.

Brawn is the precedent. BMW missed the deadline for 2010, which is why they do not have a garuanteed entry. They may build on a team which is racing this season but come 2010 they will be a brand new entry.

If they have priority, I fail to see the logic in that.

Yeah, when I read it the first time, I discerened that the first half was fact, the second half specualtion. I still don't have an explanation for you as to why the article suggests one of the new teams has not signed the RRA, but contradixts itself by suggesting the RRA is a pre-requisite for the Concorde when we know the Concorde has been signed by all.

And how many serious manufacturers tried to challenge them in F3? Besides, that's a different car with way less power and tech than a F1.

I was thinking more of their GP2, WSR and IRL involvement, even if I know people used to race Panozes in the IRL and the Dallara won over because it was more competitive. Though again, those are hardly a F1-level kind of opponents, isn't it?

I'm just convinced that these series nowadays aren't anywhere near as much of a good training ground for chassis manufacturers as they used to be in the past, because they're not real competitions for them.

Campos evidently thought highly enough of them to commission a chassis. And like I said, Dallara worked on the early stuff for the Ferrari F60. That might not inspire much confidence, but they say they know what happened last time and will learn from it now.

Here's a take on the RRA argument that I posted earlier. It's taken from Saward's blog, and while I said I don't trust him, that's more to do with when he's posting new stuff. If he reports on pre-existing stuff, I won't go putting out a burn notice:

This is probably what has happened.

Plenty of manufacturers have tried and are trying to beat Dallara in F3. they are just all failing. Dallara was no always top dog in F3, I have been following F3 where a Ralt, Reynard, March and Martini was the car to have, in FFord Van Diemen was for a time the dominant car.

You may have been thinking of other classes, I just find it hard to judge a manufacturer making the cars for the by regulation single chassis classes, they enter the tenders with a view to win, and then by default is The manufacturer.

Dallara have been producing cars, both single seaters and sportscars since the early 1970ies (if not longer), they are fully capable of producing a F1 car as well.

If (and I do not know how much meat there really is on the story) Campos Meta1 is in trouble, it is not Dallara which is causing it, but Campos Meta1 not finding the funds needed.

Saward's saying one of the issues is Dallara failing to meet the chassis deadlines in time. The Campos funding is another issue.

Anyway I wouldn't mind them proving me wrong at all, I like Dallara for some reason.

Maybe because of this...



Good lookin, isn't it?

Campos Meta is offering employment on its website.

www.camposmeta.com

(IMHO, Joe Saward's info is biased).

Adrian Campos interview on Punto Radio:

- "We're working very hard to sign our drivers as soon as possible. We have stretched the circle to just four drivers: De La Rosa, Piquet, Senna and Petrov."
- 48 million budget. "We've got our part of the TV rights and we're closing deals with some important sponsors"
- New plant in Fuente Álamo (Murcia). "It will be an important source of wealth for Murcia because it's going to generate auxiliary factories plus I'm going to try to bring other motorsport teams to the region." "The deal includes the plan to finish the Fuente Álamo Circuit so it can be homologated for F1 testing and international car and bike races." "A 3 km straight will be also built, it will be the only place in Europe where F1 teams will be able to do aero test to validate wind tunnel data."

I'm hoping for Petrov. I just really want to see a Russian in Formula One.

I find it note worthy that Piquet is mentioned, this show that he is not dead in terms of F1.

Since this is a new team, I guess that having an experienced driver is a good idea, except that the benefit of that is somewhat overrated in my view, of the 4 mentioned De la Rosa is obviously the most F1 experienced, and Piquet is then the other experienced choise.

If you can drive, you can drive, so a team of Senna and Petrov would be interesting.

But then I would be willing to throw them on the scrap heap after a season, and that may not be fair either.

I have a feeling that Petrov is already signed, and Piquet or Senna will get a seat based on how much sponsorship they can bring, and if they can not bring enough then De la Rosa is in.

I've somehow managed to place myself at opposite ends of the spectrum with Piquet. On the one hand, I'd be very interested to see how his career would have played out if he had joined a team that was not being run by Flavio Briatore. I've always disagreed with his policy of having one driver as a clear number one and the other is largely there to make up the numbers. It doesn't do a lot for a driver's confidence, and Briatore is just a bully. But on the other hand, I don't want to see Piquet again at all. While he has some talent - after all, he did pretty well in GP2, and some guys who do well in F3, the WSR or IFM simply can't cut it GP2, so he's not completely talentless - I can't for the life of me place all of his mediocre results solely at the feet of Renault. If he were with Toro Rosso or Force India, he might have challenged for points, he might have made less mistakes ... but it wouldn't be a total reversal of fortunes. He'd still be dangerous to be near on the circuit.


I wouldn't call Piquet "experienced", unless Campos' have been commissioned to find out where the walls of the circuit are in relation to the rest of the track.


It was expected that Pedro de la Rosa would be announced as their lead driver at the Europea Grand Prix. Adrian Campos made no secret of his desire to see a Spanish driver leading the team, and de la Rosa and Marc Gene were the only real options there. However, de la Rosa delayed signing on because BMW had long since announced they were withdrawing. The selection process was being done again, and one of the teams in contention was Epsilon Euskadi, another Spanish team. De la Rosa apparently wanted to see whether Euskadi would make it before signing on with Campos; Joan Villadelprat revealed that his team had a budget of sixty-five million Euros very early on (like when the original selection process was taking place). Now de la Rosa is said to be waiting because he feels he can be paid more testing for McLaren than he can racing for Campos. If that's true, he probably won't join the team.

Since Campos are running on a budget of forty-eight million Euro - just three (or was it eight?) million more than the poposed budget cap - they're probably going to be running a pay driver. They haven't signed anyone to my knowledge, because they've said they're going to wait until season's end - or possibly the new year - before announcing their lineup. They've confirmed they're interested in Senna, Petrov and Piquet, and I've heard that they're all pretty well-moneyed. Senna is said to bring a massive twenty-five million Euro with him, while Petrov can promise fifteen and I've heard there's a provision for more if need be (ie if someone can match Petrov). Nelson Piquet Jnr. is said to carry between five and ten million in his warchest, unless Piquet Snr. can find more money.

Ideally, Campos would take de la Rosa for the expeirence and Senna for the money. But de la Rosa is dragging his feet, and Senna is taking part of Renault's young driver testing sessions later this year. I also wouldn't be too surprised to learn that Manor is after him because Richard Branson would throw money at him to align the Senna name with Virgin (if Virgin are indeed going to Manor - Branson has implied they may stay with Brawn), or if you told me that Lotus wanted him to bring the Senna name back in line with Lotus. Hell, if Button staying at Brawn or Rosberg moving there from Williams fais to materialise, Brawn might even take him. It's basically Advantage Bruno, but I'd like to think he'd join up with a team that wanted him for his ability and not his name; it's what his uncle would have done.

Petrov might have a good chance at Renault, If the Russian owners and/or sponsors come on board. But Campos is his only other option. Lotus/Manor/USGPE do not want him.

By the way, even though USGPE will probably be best prepared for next season of the NOOBS, They will have THE worst driver line up in the entire field. It shaping up as catastrophic. Pechito lopez and Jonathan Summerton equals a big massive fail. They would be better off signing a Petrov or a pastor maldonado or evan a Lucas Di grassi

This is the thread about Campos, not USGPE. You're pretty poorly-informed, too: USGPE do not exist; they changed their name briefly before being accepted to the grid, then changed it back. So for a former F1 driver, you have a very poor sense of direction. How on earth did you ever make it from the pits to the grid?

To me they must still be called USGPE, because they have not competed in any races or even completed a car yet. They are just an engineering firm at the moment. They are not racers yet. You would get it if you were a true racer like me.

I play Gran Turismo 4, which I figure is the extent of your so-called "true racing" experience, so I'm at least as qualified on that count.

But when it comes to trolling, I submit to the master.

(That's you, in case you missed it.)