57 replies to this topic

[lambylamby]

Hi all,

Created this topic as I couldn't see any for the last few pages on this specific topic. We have had an addition of 3 new teams for the last 3 years now - Caterham, Marussia & HRT (with name changes in the current grid etc) but with the new 2014 rules to be implemented with the new engines, are there any news articles/rumors for new teams joining?

I understand there was a topic page for VW rumored to be joining the grid a while back but that has appeared to have fallen through, this is more for 'any' teams news.

Any rumors about the Mighty Stefan GP or USF1 Toasters resurrections welcome too, although by the sounds of it, they are both history.

Any personal views welcome, what teams would you see most viable to join?

[Cavani]

a lot of rumours VW , Porsche, maybe audi

[redbroccoli]

a lot of rumours VW , Porsche, maybe audi

Meaning just VW group.

[Baddoer]

Toyota

[UPRC]

I'd say Honda since their activity in F1 is a bit like a yoyo, but it's probably been too soon since their last drop out.

[HistoryFan]

German F1

the current teams want no more new teams, so there will not be a 13th team

clive palmer want to buy hrt.

[dau]

a lot of rumours VW , Porsche, maybe audi

Unlikely. Audi and Porsche are concentrating on Le Mans for the next few years. VW itself have repeatedly rejected F1.

http://www.autoblog....nixes-f1-entry/
http://www.motorspor...tie-up-rumours/

[g1n]

would have been fun if giants like Macdonalds and Coca-cola started up their own teams, with pretty much limitless budgets, would have been interesting to watch, unlike Marussia and HRT.

[Ickx]

would have been fun if giants like Macdonalds and Coca-cola started up their own teams, with pretty much limitless budgets, would have been interesting to watch, unlike Marussia and HRT.

Would love to see Red Bull racing Coca Cola F1, Burger King Racing, Scuderia Pepsi and Ecurie Nestlé F1...

[g1n]

Would love to see Red Bull racing Coca Cola F1, Burger King Racing, Scuderia Pepsi and Ecurie Nestlé F1...

sarcasm? why? it is just names, RBR became a household name when it is just a drinks company, so same would have happened with the other brands if they were to be successful, people would get used to it, as they did with Red Bull Racing.

[pdac]

Just a gut feeling, but I think no more new teams will enter F1 and possibly one or two teams will leave.

Edit: Of course, I was the one that predicted that Williams would be nowhere this year and would not be around for much longer.

Edited by pdac, 03 August 2012 - 22:11.

[Disgrace]

would have been fun if giants like Macdonalds and Coca-cola started up their own teams, with pretty much limitless budgets, would have been interesting to watch, unlike Marussia and HRT.

No thanks.

[Jimisgod]

Just a gut feeling, but I think no more new teams will enter F1 and possibly one or two teams will leave.

Edit: Of course, I was the one that predicted that Williams would be nowhere this year and would not be around for much longer.

That was before the got a truckload of Venezuelan oil cash.

[BigCHrome]

Doubt it. F1 is unattractive right now.

[goldenboy]

clive palmer want to buy hrt.

that would be absolutely hillarious

[Petroltorque]

I have to agree that its more likely that one or two of the 'new' teams could fold rather than any new team bidding for entry. I would say it will boil down to whether anyone will provide an affordable engine. The cost of the new drive trains look like being too expensive for small outfits to afford. In addition they face problems with obtaining new gearbox technology and internal dynamics for the new chassis.
I read that Lola were considering an entry for the 2014 season but I think they are still in administration....

[Sakae]

Building a team (and facility) from scratch takes some time, and unless there was a lot of work done already, for 2014 could be late now, unless you plan to look foolish and incompetent from D1. From existing teams I would not be surprised if Williams would want to sell his F1 operation.

[Sardukar]

German F1

the current teams want no more new teams, so there will not be a 13th team

clive palmer want to buy hrt.

LMAO, clive palmer in f1 would be amazing, you think the current teams know how to complain? think again.

[Anderis]

From existing teams I would not be surprised if Williams would want to sell his F1 operation.

I find it surprising how many people still believe that Williams would want to sell their F1 team. They are no longer in financial trouble (read their financial reports if you don't believe) and they are expanding as a company. They have survived very hard period for them which was 2006-2008 and I'm sure Williams will be still in F1 as Williams in next 15-20 years. You can see that sir Frank is clearly trying to get over his team to certain people rather than any company.

I would like to see 13th team in 2014. May not sound very likely at the moment, but who believed in mid 2008 that there would be several completely new teams interested in joining in 2010?

[Cavani]

toro rosso is on the bricks here , should be bought by a mega spender

[Tommorris747]

toro rosso is on the bricks here , should be bought by a mega spender

Not sure this is credible but the Economist says that Red Bull is said to be looking at launching a new “Stars and Stripes” Formula One team with American drivers. Why haven't we heard anything about it if it is true?
http://www.economist.com/node/21559639

[HistoryFan]

would have been fun if giants like Macdonalds and Coca-cola started up their own teams, with pretty much limitless budgets, would have been interesting to watch, unlike Marussia and HRT.

Coca Cola is rumoured to replace Vodafone at McLaren.

[HistoryFan]

I would like to see 13th team in 2014. May not sound very likely at the moment, but who believed in mid 2008 that there would be several completely new teams interested in joining in 2010?

In 2008 there were many teams interested to go to F1 because of the FIA planed budget 40m.

[HistoryFan]

I would like to see 13th team in 2014. May not sound very likely at the moment, but who believed in mid 2008 that there would be several completely new teams interested in joining in 2010?

In 2008 there were many teams interested to go to F1 because of the FIA planed budget 40m.

[taran]

No thanks.

You are being very short sighted. Or perhaps you don't know much about f1 history?

Sponsors starting teams or buying up teams has a long and proud history in racing. Beatrice, Benetton and Red Bull are just a few names....
Wouldn't you rather have more teams (albeit without instant heritage) with the resources to win than a bunch of hopeless backmarkers?

If they havethe right racing spirit as Benetton (19 years) or Red Bull (18 years), the heritage aspect will come in time.....

[packapoo]

Coca Cola is rumoured to replace Vodafone at McLaren.

The well known 'V' symbol will stay with McLaren.

Vaseline is undergoing corporate rebranding and sponsorship of McLaren will be announced shortly in a somewhat fitting tribute (aka 'payback') for BE when he goes down for rorting the British taxman.

[Sakae]

I find it surprising how many people still believe that Williams would want to sell their F1 team. They are no longer in financial trouble (read their financial reports if you don't believe) and they are expanding as a company. They have survived very hard period for them which was 2006-2008 and I'm sure Williams will be still in F1 as Williams in next 15-20 years. You can see that sir Frank is clearly trying to get over his team to certain people rather than any company.

I would like to see 13th team in 2014. May not sound very likely at the moment, but who believed in mid 2008 that there would be several completely new teams interested in joining in 2010?

I was merely speculating that team could be sold, and that mainly because we all retire at some point from necessity of age, if not for other reasons.

[Tsarwash]

You are being very short sighted. Or perhaps you don't know much about f1 history?

Sponsors starting teams or buying up teams has a long and proud history in racing. Beatrice, Benetton and Red Bull are just a few names....
Wouldn't you rather have more teams (albeit without instant heritage) with the resources to win than a bunch of hopeless backmarkers?

If they havethe right racing spirit as Benetton (19 years) or Red Bull (18 years), the heritage aspect will come in time.....

19 years for Benneton and 18 years for Red Bull ? I don't remember that. And I don't consider it short sighted not to want the massive global giants muscling their way into a sport that they neither understand nor care about. Ultimately the Red Bull team is only there to sell more soft drinks. McLaren, Ferrari, Williams, Sauber are ultimately just there to race and try to win. They carry sponsorship to enable them to race, Red Bull race to enable them to carry the sponsorship. Red Bull will pull out of F1 when they decide it is no longer selling more drinks than other forms of advertising.

[Amphicar]

You are being very short sighted. Or perhaps you don't know much about f1 history?

Sponsors starting teams or buying up teams has a long and proud history in racing. Beatrice, Benetton and Red Bull are just a few names....
Wouldn't you rather have more teams (albeit without instant heritage) with the resources to win than a bunch of hopeless backmarkers?

If they havethe right racing spirit as Benetton (19 years) or Red Bull (18 years), the heritage aspect will come in time.....

Talking of F1 history...Beatrice Foods were a sponsor of the Haas "Lola" F1 team for two years, they didn't own it. Benetton were F1 team owners for 15 years (1985-2000) and (so far) Red Bull have owned an F1 team for 7 years (2005-2012).

[Morbus]

Would love to see Red Bull racing Coca Cola F1, Burger King Racing, Scuderia Pepsi and Ecurie Nestlé F1...

Why would Pepsi be an italian team? Do you propose they buy Toro Rosso?

[lambylamby]

I"m suprised that Prodrive don't join on the back of the Aston Martin marque, but I'm not sure it's been that successful....

[GS1]

We didn't need Caterham, Marussia, and HRT in the first place.

[HistoryFan]

I"m suprised that Prodrive don't join on the back of the Aston Martin marque, but I'm not sure it's been that successful....

I think we will never see a Prodrive team in F1. There were so many rumoures but nothing happened.
Richards had his chances with Benetton and BAR.

[GhostR]

Ultimately the Red Bull team is only there to sell more soft drinks. McLaren, Ferrari, Williams, Sauber are ultimately just there to race and try to win. They carry sponsorship to enable them to race, Red Bull race to enable them to carry the sponsorship. Red Bull will pull out of F1 when they decide it is no longer selling more drinks than other forms of advertising.

A very common misconception, this. Yes, one of Red Bull's aims is to advertise and sell more drinks. Hence having their own branding on the car. But they are also there to race, win championships, and be successful at the pinnacle of motorsport. Motorsport being a key term: Red Bull is involved in motorsport at so many levels it isn't funny. So much so that it could be argued that Red Bull live and breath motorsports to a greater degree than any other constructor in F1 currently.

Does that help them sell drinks? I'm sure it does. Would you get that involved if your sole goal was to sell drinks. No F-ing way. The primary driving force isn't marketing. It's Mateschitz's love of motorsports.

[Linus27]

I"m suprised that Prodrive don't join on the back of the Aston Martin marque, but I'm not sure it's been that successful....

What?? Why against new teams? Caterham seem to be improving slowly. They started out right at the back and are now knocking on the door of the midfield teams so another year or two and they could be fighting mid pack.

The more teams the better in my book. Its all racing at the end of the day.

[Imperial]

I was actually under the impression it was in 2013 when the second tranche of new teams would be welcomed, not 2014. On the basis that not one word has been heard on the subject for months now and that the current 'new' teams had plans well under way by the August prior to their first season, I'm assuming nobody is interested. I'm further assuming this is strictly Concorde agreement related, as the deadline date for agreeing 'the future' has passed and the most recent talk (albeit still months ago) was all about opening up to customer cars in 2013. That bit was most likely a Concorde ploy however.

I'm pretty sure it's correct that there is technically still an open grid slot, i.e. one of the available slots went unfulfilled last time round. This was to be the last new slot offered up for 2013.

With no Concorde agreement in place it looks essentially impossible for anyone interested in joining F1 to do so. It would be akin to accepting a new job offer and turning up on your first day with no contract, no idea what your salary is going to be and no idea if anyone is even going to pay you anything.

I don't think the 2014 rule changes were in any way related to offering new grid slots though.

[lambylamby]

If there was one more opening for a team, I would hope the points structure would be changed up to 14th place as a possibility of scoring. That way there is a bridge for the smaller teams (torro rosso down) to really fight for the last positions. I think a 14th team would be great for the sport, and furthering the points system to the lower teams will make for some ferocious racing lower ranks too. (imagine if there was another team at HRT's level in 2014, with Marussia and Caterham bridging that gap to Torro Rosso). Obviously the smaller teams need a lot 'more' cash for survival, and the big boys need to be spending a lot less. All in all I could see it working, if somewhere like the USA got interested (not USF1 type teams though). Would be interesting to see how that pans out with the 2 potential races in the USA next year.

I personally think on another note, if Stefan GP got the green light in '10 with that Toyota chassis, they would have dicked on all the lower teams.

[HistoryFan]

I think we don't need a slot. I would open it for so many teams who are interested in joining F1, but just 26 grid places. The cars on position 27 up are not qualified for races. As it was in the past. I don't think we will see more than 12 teams because there are no teams interested in joining F1 under these conditions.

[William Hunt]

We didn't need Caterham, Marussia, and HRT in the first place.

Yes we do: F1 needs small teams as well, I'm not happy with the amount of cars at the moment, would love to see +- 30 cars again, like in the '90s. It would give more chances for young talented drivers to find a seat too. In 1989 we even had 39 cars.

[PayasYouRace]

You'll have to agree that 30+ cars is unsustainable, as you end up with too many non-qualifiers. However, the last time F1 had a full field was early 1995, and that's pretty sad. There should always be 26 starters.

[Disgrace]

You'll have to agree that 30+ cars is unsustainable, as you end up with too many non-qualifiers. However, the last time F1 had a full field was early 1995, and that's pretty sad. There should always be 26 starters.

Well, that field contained Forti Fords in it and cars of that (lack of) quality are not really worth it to be honest.

HRT may be the butt of many jokes, but they are ahead of Marussia and once they get the first test under their belt (usually the first Grand Prix) they qualify and race just fine for the rest of the season.

Edited by Disgrace, 06 August 2012 - 22:48.

[Petroltorque]

Well, that field contained Forti Fords in it and cars of that (lack of) quality are not really worth it to be honest.

HRT may be the butt of many jokes, but they are ahead of Marussia and once they get the first test under their belt (usually the first Grand Prix) they qualify and race just fine for the rest of the season.

This year Marussia are ahead of HRT and on race pace are 1 second a lap quicker. In fact in Hungary Pic was not far off lapping both HRTs.

[Fastcake]

I don't think the 2014 rule changes were in any way related to offering new grid slots though.

There was never an official date for new teams to enter, there was only speculation for 2013 as it would be the earliest arrivals could enter. It's too late now however, and as there are new engine and chassis regulations coming into force for 2014 it would be plain stupid to force teams to enter next year then design another car from scratch for 2014.

I personally think on another note, if Stefan GP got the green light in '10 with that Toyota chassis, they would have dicked on all the lower teams.

Stefen would of turned up in Bahrain with three guys, fail to get the cars to start if they even had them, then left and we would of never heard of them again. It was nothing more than a scam outfit.

I think we don't need a slot. I would open it for so many teams who are interested in joining F1, but just 26 grid places. The cars on position 27 up are not qualified for races. As it was in the past. I don't think we will see more than 12 teams because there are no teams interested in joining F1 under these conditions.

There is very little money available for the current teams who all have guaranteed starts. Where is the money going to come from to fund an outfit that has to pre-qualify? Sorry but thats no longer sustainable nowadays, the past is in the past and it's not coming back. At least with a closed grid, we've avoided some of the complete embarrassments of the 90s.

[PayasYouRace]

Well, that field contained Forti Fords in it and cars of that (lack of) quality are not really worth it to be honest.

Which just makes it even sadder that we have to further back to find a more competitive field. I'd argue that of the worst teams that year, Pacific were the absolute worst. They were in their 2nd year and were not making any sort of impact. Forti were in their first year but by 1996 they were able to meet the (new at the time) 107% rule. The biggest shame was Simtek, who were starting to show something - a bit like Caterham today - but simply ran out of money.

[Sakae]

"His Royal Muppetness Bernie Ecclestone" for new USF1 at Charlotte?

http://sidepodcast.c...merican-f1-team

[anbeck]

1) Could people please stop bashing Caterham, Marussia and HRT?

They are much closer to the top than any of the smaller teams in F1's history ever. Just look at the numbers, and you'll realize that with the more or less 2 seconds Caterham was down to the best in this year's Monaco qualy, they would have been 8th on the grid in 1995.

And even Forti was a team I supported in some way - a classic underdog. I was at the Nürburgring in 1995 and enjoyed their battle against the McLarens for a while. Häkkinen eventually finished 2 laps down. I guess people would have been happy to see such an underperforming team leave?
People tend to forget that in the 1990s there were a lot of times, where you could have nearly squeezed today's field between the first and fifth cars on the grid. Watch a couple of races and refresh your memory.

2) I think the small grids we have had for nearly two decades now are a problem. They are only a symptom of how unsustainable today's F1 is.

The people who now see small grids as something good, soon will realize in what kind of absurd financial situation the whole circus is when they cannot afford anymore to watch F1 on TV, and we shall not even speak of taking the whole family to a race! And maybe even if you can afford to take your family to a race, there won't be any race near you because all of the circuits are bankrupt (Hello Nürburgring!)!

So while I am hoping for another team, it is to put the cart before the horse! We first have to fix F1, and then teams should automatically come. Unfortunately, fixing F1 is not in the interest of any of the parties who make a lot of money right now.

[sesku]

We didn't need Caterham, Marussia, and HRT in the first place.

I don't want to watch races with only 18 cars.

[korzeniow]

1) Could people please stop bashing Caterham, Marussia and HRT?

They are much closer to the top than any of the smaller teams in F1's history ever. Just look at the numbers, and you'll realize that with the more or less 2 seconds Caterham was down to the best in this year's Monaco qualy, they would have been 8th on the grid in 1995.

And even Forti was a team I supported in some way - a classic underdog. I was at the Nürburgring in 1995 and enjoyed their battle against the McLarens for a while. Häkkinen eventually finished 2 laps down. I guess people would have been happy to see such an underperforming team leave?
People tend to forget that in the 1990s there were a lot of times, where you could have nearly squeezed today's field between the first and fifth cars on the grid. Watch a couple of races and refresh your memory.

That's because the rules are very strict so there is little room for innvation. Building a car up to the rules automaticaly puts it 2-3 sec behind. Cusomer engines equalized on power, customer gearboxes and KERS. Caterham buys from Red Bull and Renault, Force India buys from Mercedes and McLaren.

It's also about being innovative. What innovatie solutions Caterham invented? STR also have small budget but they run double floor for example

[BRG]

1) Could people please stop bashing Caterham, Marussia and HRT?

They are much closer to the top than any of the smaller teams in F1's history ever.

Perhaps you should look at F1 history before making silly statements like that.

Wolf - won on its first race.
Hesketh, Stewart, Jordan, Williams (the ultimate small hand-to-mouth F1 team before they came good) - all won GPs and scored good results, pole positions etc.

But I agree that we need the small teams and the continual bashing of them is counter productive and just a bit elitist and snobby.

Although HRT are a bit of a joke.

Edited by BRG, 24 August 2012 - 16:53.

[SonnyViceR]

F1 should turn into a fully open series again... I don't understand why we have to have a fixed car number, re-introduce prequali or whatever to have that 26 car limit (which is too low anyway) but please have more different cars on the grid. One of the many reasons I prefer other series over F1 is that anyone can enter races almost at any given time