Not on account of their perfomances. Not at all.

Lotus having a ghastly bigot open their factory was a touch mortifying, though.

every journey has a beginning.

Just look where Force India is now.

Couldn't have said it better. Watching the newcomers was far more exciting than anything else this weekend. Hope they manage to put in more laps in Melbourne. Because if the front runners show the same "spectacular" racing again I fear I'm gonna regret getting up early.

The bar for embarassment in F1 has been set incredibly high in recent years, so the new teams have their work cut out for them if they want to induce even the slightest of blushes in F1's most delicate observers.

The new teams were always going to be off the pace. After all, when was the last time a new team joined with a start-up operation and was competitive? Toyota couldn't manage it. Stewart didn't either. I can't even remember who the next-newest entry was. Jordan, maybe. I don't remember them being competitive in their debut season, either.

The biggest embarrassment is the lack of a US team or a US race. "World" Championship? Hah.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. No points to podium to points scored in first race of season.

no race in africa either

Obviously the selection process was a crock, and to try to make teams of any sort competitive in such a short period of time is a joke. The embarassment is the sports governors imo.

Also, given that the top teams cannot develop their engines, and have limited on-track testing for other improvements, these new teams will likely end up looking better relative to the top teams as the season progresses.

That being said, as a long-time fan (30+ years as an F-1 fan living in America), the sport just is not what it used to be. It won't be the pinnacle of motor racing in a few more years, if it still is today.

Does Sauber in 93 counters?

i dont think stewart was that bad when it started?

the bar has been raised higher, all the top teams have massively better facilities and equipment than 10-15 years ago remmber

the new teams have come in, and are 3% to 7% or so off the proffessionals with 5times or more budget, with billion dollor facilities and decades of experience at being in F1.

if you made say, a watch, for the first time and you got tobe as good as a established make nearly, lets say 7% worse all round. you would be pretty chuffed with yourself.

how would you feel if someone said YOU SUCK, YOUR WATCH IS UTTER SHIT, YOU SHOULDNT MAKE WATCHES EVAR!! YOUR A INSULT TO WATCHES!!!!!1111

you would say your watch isnt as good as say a rolex, but it is 5 times cheaper, and it is your very first

the argument against seems really weak doesnt it ?

F1 is in real danager of disapearing up its own arsehole with its over "professionalism"

Perhaps you should let the MLB know that their 'world' series only spans across 2 countries on the same continent.

Apart from Africa, F1 in 2010 travels to 5 of 7 continents, and 1 of those continents is Antartica. Don't think you'd want to hold any sort of sporting event there.

I think F1 deserves the title of "World Championship" rather easily.

Im glad most people here answered 'NO'. I really think the new teams add to F1's entertainment value. Its exciting to see how Virgin and Lotus battling it out between themselves, and its a really close battle. If you dont enjoy it, you dont enjoy racing. Also thanks for Heikki for putting on an awesome show and pushing that car to the limit everytime he was on screen, and Timo for pulling one of the very few overtaking moves of the race.

It is also exciting to see if either of them will be able to catch STR or Petrov or Sauber as the season goes. Sure the gap is huge ATM, but its a bit like losing weight, if you are 20kg over-weight you lose the first 15kg way easier than that last 5 (let alone last 1 or 2) so while closing a 2sec gap to the sharp end of the grid is impossible, closing it to the rear end can possibly be done and these new guys are obviously all here to prove it. And admit it, it would be such an awesome underdog story if they manage it, we all would love to see that (I hope)

Besides I really love the Lotus livery, and Virgin's livery is also among the best on the grid IMO. Im not sure that what Dallara built is an actual F1 car, but it sure as hell a beauty, aesthetically its just good to look at. Fair to say all 3 new teams make the grid more colorful (although personally i would rather see the car Toyota has prepared for this season with Ralph Schumacher onboard, but hey, lets hope the FIA had a good reason to stay away from a fishy Serbian business operation)

(Oh and Ferrari's pre-season press-release on the subject was just unworthy and unprofessional for a team this prestigious, how Montezmolo approved it is beyond me)

Were they immediately competitive?

The only team I can think of in the modern era that was competitive from te outset was Brawn, and they came about under pretty exceptional circumstances.

Voted NO!

Only team USF1 was an embarrassment, for not being there in the first place...

The new teams that made it to the grid should be proud.
I hope the economy keeps upticking so the new teams can find enough sponsorship to keep going.

No way! You must have a short memory. Remember the Forti in '95? Quite often that car was 10-12 secs off the pace.

I was amazed both Lotus' were classified at the end. Great effort for the first race.

Plus I love seeing the famous yellow helmet again. Like Brundle said it's scary how similar Bruno looks to his uncle with helmet on.

I don't even think you could say that. I mean, I certainly wasn't sat watching the race this weekend thinking "this sport has lost all credibility because of what Ken Anderson tried to pull." 95% of the TV viewership didn't even know they ever existed. The remaining 5% have practically forgotten about them.

Brawn aren't anymore of a new team than Force India, or Renault, or Honda etc. Just new management/renames.

The only new teams since 1991 (not including this year) have been Toyota and BAR (Although they bought out Tyrrell racing, they started with a fresh factory) Stewart, Lola, Forti, Simtek, Pacific, Sauber, and Jordan (Perhaps Modena could be included as well after the Lambo bailout). Everyone else has been name changes as far as I can remember.

Regarding being competitive, I would think Toyota, BAR, Stewart, Sauber and Jordan all started well. All but BAR scored points in their first year, and even BAR qualified in the top 6 or more than one occasion. All of them were bale to lap within a couple of seconds of the front running cars, sometimes even keeping up to their pace.

That's my point. I said they came about under pretty exceptional circumstances. Or did you just stop reading as soon as you saw "Brawn" and started replying to my post?

I didn't see anything embarrassing this weekend. The Lotus was about where I would expect a team of their experience/resources to be speed-wise, the Virgin had the teething problems you'd expect, and Hispania did surprisingly well considering the incredibly difficult situation they found themselves in. All in all a respectable job by all three teams and all their drivers.

I was embarrased for F1 because of the fact that the only decent on track racing was between the Virgin and Lotus cars.

New teams:up:

Yes I did read on. I also read what was before it,

"The only team I can think of in the modern era that was competitive from te outset was Brawn, and they came about under pretty exceptional circumstances."

Define modern era. Only since 2009? What about Honda? Renault? BMW Sauber? Red Bull? You couldn't think of them? They weren't competitive from the start? Or do you have to win the World Championship in the first year? Also what circumstances exactly was so exceptional about Brawn? A name change? They came in the way most F1 teams start. They took over a defunct team.

I also read your post in the context of your earlier post,

"The new teams were always going to be off the pace. After all, when was the last time a new team joined with a start-up operation and was competitive? Toyota couldn't manage it. Stewart didn't either. I can't even remember who the next-newest entry was. Jordan, maybe. I don't remember them being competitive in their debut season, either."

Which in itself disqualified Brawn as a new team, yet you mentioned them anyway.

its a embarressment that 30ppl are saying yes

maybe they forgot this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBI9PcRW-fA
thats almost 6 secs ofpace

Voted no, think ppl would voted yes and think the new teams are an embarrassment to F1, have not watch/followed F1 for very long. Rather think that Minardi was a cool team, and was happy for Lotus finishing the race. What did you expect from HRT? they didnt even test the car. Of course they should have tested, but they couldnt, FIA is the embarrassment to F1 for picking maybe some wrong teams, but done is done, and give them a chance.

By no means were they (any of them, even HRT) an embarassement.

An embarassement were ATS in 1962 (or 1963?), Andrea Moda, Lola in 1997. But these new teams were perfectly OK and, in case of Lotus (especially) and Virgin, far surpassed my expectations. Only 5% slower than the race winner, Kovalainen comfortably fell into the former 107% psychological boundary.

Congratulations to all of them! (It shows that it could be done, do you see, USF1?)

The new teams are in no way embarrassing, they have done an absolutely fantastic job to get themselves to where they are now.

Whilst it wasn't the most auspicious start for Hispania or Virgin, Lotus gave a good solid account of themselves and the only way is definitely up for all three of them.

The point is over the past decade, the only teams joining the sport in the main were major manufacturers (except the various iterations of what eventually became Force India, and of course Brawn) and they invariably purchased existing teams with considerable F1 experience and just changed their existing name.

Toyota was a different story entirely as they were a startup team and did everything from scratch. A lot of people forget they were supposed to be on the grid for the 2001 season, but lost their £11million FIA deposit and deferred to 2002 when they realised their first car was too heavy and uncompetitive when they tested it... I don't believe Lotus, Virgin or Hispania would have the luxury of being able to do that after winter testing! Toyota failed because they were run in the Japanese 'committee' structure. A friend of mine who worked there for many years in the PR department told me this completely stymied their development at every level, as they lacked a Ron Dennis or Sir Frank Williams who was able to ultimately lead them forward.

I'm 26 and have been a devotee to the sport for 18 years, and can well remember teams like Andrea Moda, Fondmetal, Scuderia Italia Lola, Pacific, Forti and Mastercard Lola, plus abortive projects from the likes of Dome and Super Nova, so the three new teams have got a long way to go before they match the, cough 'achievements' of those first six i've just listed.

The fact is, as fans, we have been kind of spoiled during the manufacturer era, with the spread of teams a matter of two seconds apart. One thing that Max Mosley did get right, was when he said in the early part of the last decade that the car makers wouldn't be around forever, and that in order for F1 to survive, the privateers had to be protected as they are the lifeblood of the sport and will be the ones still taking part and still competing, long after the likes of Toyota, Honda and BMW pull out... guess what, he was right.

F1 works in cycles and one day I'm sure the manufacturers will return and throw all their money back at the sport, then leave again. Before then i'm looking forward to seeing our three new privateer teams grow, as the original privateer Lotus, Ferrari (after WW2), Mclaren and Williams teams have done.

New teams = good job.

So far there is no point as the embarrassment have not made themselves to the grid.

Well even USF1, is not such embarrassment as none have seen nothing of them.

Sauber were a midfield runner and scored points straight out of the box, but the field that year included some very poor established teams.

Virgin showed great pace but poor reliability. Lotus did themselves proud. HRT were hamstrung by their lack of running. Give them time.

That's been my line the entire time.

NO, i will always welcome and support new teams.

33 ppl saying but not one off explain them why

You can regard Force India as a continuation of Jordan. Even so, they're now at a point where they can challenge for points regularly which is a great acheivement.

Does anyone remember when 'little' teams were welcome in F1 as they provided a grounding for young drivers like Ayrton co?

When did F1 become an elitist procession for manufacturers and a corporate spending war. How did F1 become that?

Max, Bernie and greed...

I'm quite appaled people would suggest this...

And at the end of the day, it was Max's undoing that he tried to put an end to that.

Do you really believe that? Max was still working with Bernie... all the way.

Totally . They have really amazed me.

Max's departure was one of FOTA's objectives, so I see no reason not to really believe that.

It was Max that created the problem in the first place.

I voted that they were not an embarrassment. In some respects I got quite nostalgic, not just with the names, these plucky privateers giving it a go. The only people that think its was an embarrassment must be new F1 fans, used to the whole grid separated by 2 seconds. It was not that long ago that both Jordan and Minardi only got though the 107% rule at a few GP's because they had managed one lap in free practice that was in the 107% rule and sometimes they did not even manage that.

I am pleased for the new teams, I think taking into consideration the time that they had to prepare, when Toyota started they had a year of testing and look at there results, they have done a brilliant job. The fact that 1 team almost had both cars across the finish line and infact had beet one of the cars from a team that has been up and running for a few years is brilliant. Congratulations to all 3 teams and they can only get better.

Just to remind you, Jordan finished 5th in the WCC in their debut year, with a fastest lap too. So yes they were competitive.

Jordan indeed scored points on their debut but it's hard to compare 2 totally different eras. Even with a string of point finishes, if i remember they were struggling for survival as well. Correcting if I'm wrong though.

That is all true, but please notice that all of those teams had way way more testing, that the gap between the front and the last points scorers was far higher at the time in terms of laptimes, that the level of professionalism in F1 has become much higher nowadays, and that these new teams in 2010 have quite small budgets - the likes of Toyota and BAR certainly had much bigger budgets for the time, I believe Stewart and Sauber too.

Rarely has a poll result varied so wildly from an OP's original expectation and POV without being closed

I think watching how these teams develop and progress over the coming year and their improvement from this year to next is going to be one of the more fascinating aspects of the F1 season. Lotus taking an approach which has reliability as the major factor, with Virgin using CFD only and HRT trying to work it as cheaply as possible. If the Ferarri's are as dominant for even the next four or five races I think the backmarker story going to make 2010 'interesting' for those not rooting for the Scuderia.

They probably did have their troubles. I suspect had their car not been as quick as it was they would not have been able to continue into 1992. I'm sure there's someone around here who knows the full details. That they were competitive was the point I was making.

It's pretty decisive isn't it? I'm pleased to see that the majority here understand what the new teams have to work with. I've corrected your little mistake though.