Epsilon Euskadi confirm 2010 entry

[Galahad]

Epsilon Euskadi team principal Joan Villadelprat has today confirmed that his team has submitted an entry for the 2010 Formula One World Championship.

Those lovely people at autosport.com have managed to get an interview with the great man, which I can strongly recommend: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/75792

It seems to me that this is exactly the sort of new team that F1 needs - organised, realistic, who have invested in the necessary infrastructure, and who in Villadelprat and Rinland have got substantial F1 experience. Incidentally, remember Raikkonen's stunning debut season with Sauber? That car was a Rinland design.

Interestingly, he says it doesn't matter to him whether there is a budget cap or not. He obviously knows what is required to do a decent job, he has the long-term funding in place, and by the sounds of it would have entered F1 anyway sooner or later. In any case, as we know, money isn't everything...

Without wishing to get involved in regional politics, it will be interesting to see a specifically Basque, rather than Spanish, team competing in an international arena too.

I'm certainly going to be hoping that Joan and the team get one of the available slots.

 

[Brogan]

Great news.

I've lost track of how many teams have submitted entries now.
Including the so-called disputed FOTA 8 there must be something like 20 or so in total.

There are going to be some disappointed team owners next week.

It's shame that due to logistical and safety issues, grids couldn't be expanded to 15 teams. Just imagine seeing 30 cars all racing towards the 1st corner. Fantastic!

P.S. Looks like we've got quite a bit of updating to do of the Database for next season

 

[Galahad]

So far I think the confirmed entries (in GM's order of credibility) are:

Campos/Dallara
Epsilon Euskadi
USF1
Prodrive/Aston Martin
Lola
Superfund
Litespeed
March

Formtech and iSport have been strongly linked to entries but as far as I know haven't confirmed or denied anything yet.

 

[Brogan]

Nice one GM

 

[bogaTYR]

i even saw the name brabham passing by as a possible new entry. march was indeed a bit of a shock GM. there were rumours todt junior also applied with methinks ATR. but s'pose that was just a thought.

 

[McZiderRed]

Thanks GM! I was getting a bit lost with all these new entries.

Does anyone think that one or more of the established teams will miss out? I mean, if all the FOTA teams have submitted illegal entries, so that just Ferrari and Williams have entered so far, will all or most of the new entries be allowed entry and therefore, it will be down to a scramble from the FOTA8 to enter late! Potentially a lot of the "established" F1 grid could miss out!

 

[bogaTYR]

somehow a field with williams, ferrari, lola, march, brabham and aston martin just to name a few, does not sound too bad to me. actually, when you look at that list its quite a fun list of names. add to that prodrive and team USA and hey presto!

 

[Galahad]

boga- I heard a rumour that if Formtech got an entry, that they would race under the Brabham name. Again, not sure how true any of this is, of course.

March haven't existed in any motor racing context since 1992, they have no facilities or staff whatsoever as far as I can make out, only the brand name. So, yes, I was shocked!

Does anyone think that one or more of the established teams will miss out? I mean, if all the FOTA teams have submitted illegal entries, so that just Ferrari and Williams have entered so far, will all or most of the new entries be allowed entry and therefore, it will be down to a scramble from the FOTA8 to enter late! Potentially a lot of the "established" F1 grid could miss out!

One of the conditions of FOTA's conditional entry was that they would have to be accepted as a group - if the FIA accepted some and not others, to be consistent the successful ones would have to withdraw to preserve group unity. I wonder if they would? I hope so.

 

[bogaTYR]

formtech bought the whole super aguri lot: Leafield Technical Centre, race cars, transporters and the workforce who apperently have been working in the interim period on composite design and manufacturing

 

[bogaTYR]

and another one for the list!

N. Technology

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/75795

 

[cider_and_toast]

May I also add an to the list of posts concerning a "March" entry.

On the matter in hand, bring back pre-qualifying I say.

There was a time a few years back where Max came up with a plan to run a two division F1 with promotion and relagation. On the face of it we laughed however that idea does have a bit of merit. This is my plan.

All cars run in pre-qual on friday. The top 26 cars go on to run in qualifying. The remaining cars run a short qually on the saturday morning and then run a sprint race of say 25 laps on the saturday afternoon. After the first race of the season the top 13 cars would no longer need to pre-qually plus as a bonus for winning the car that wins the saturday afternoon sprint will also go through to the main qually making 14 gaurenteed spots plus and leaving 12 to fight for.

I understand the need for a limit on the number of cars for safety but I think the above idea would still give all the teams in F1 a lot of exposure.

 

[teabagyokel]

It might just be me, but wouldn't Villadelprat be a great name if he messes up for the headlines?

I get the feeling that USGPE and ?E would be the most likely teams to fill the three(+) vacant seats. I'm not sure of Toyota/Renault's actual commitment to retaining a place to be fair, and I doubt that the FIA/FOM will want to repeat the mistake of giving Prodrive a grid slot!

I think March were as likely as April and May to submit an entry tbh! (I'll get my coat)

I can't imagine the FIA/FOM giving a place to such a poor pun as Litespeed, so I think it is between Campos and Lola with USGPE and ?E being given places.

But who knows? Not I!

 

[bogaTYR]

ah, it can get worse TBY. i once was at a symposium on telecom and then heard this immortal anouncement: ladies and gentlemen, introducing the prime minister of the netherlands and the chairman of royal dutch kpn, mr kok and mr dik. god, that was a tough time

we'll have to wait and see, but i do agree there is room for serious hilarous moments. mot too bad though me thinks

 

[bogaTYR]

god help us

litespeed has bought the name lotus! so they will race under that illustrious name. now i am getting seriously annoyed by teams just picking up names from the past

 

[teabagyokel]

It may give Max a bargaining point in FOTA arguments...

"You can't live without big historic names like Ferrari, McLaren, Renault..."
"Lotus, March and Aston Martin big and historic enough for you?"

Who the hell is next to enter? BRM? So long as Gordini or Vanwall aren't considering a comeback. These entries all seem a little time-machiney! I'll bet it was that "interview" Jake Humphrey did with Graham Hill before Monaco that did it!

i once was at a symposium on telecom and then heard this immortal anouncement: ladies and gentlemen, introducing the prime minister of the netherlands and the chairman of royal dutch kpn, mr kok and mr dik. god, that was a tough time

What a "fist-in-mouth" moment. The Dutch and their rude sounding names! Anyway, they're all orange, boga, so you should have some sort of soft spot!

 

[bogaTYR]

i do TBY! as much as i appreciate bro et all for making this a serious orange side and to you for using orange text

why no one considers bringing back the orange sponsored arrows is beyond me.

 

[Brogan]

litespeed has bought the name lotus! so they will race under that illustrious name.

Aarghh!
That's going to cause no end of problems in the database

 

[cider_and_toast]

It depends really Bro.

The rights to Team Lotus passed from the Chapman family in 1989 to a management buy out of Peter Warr and Peter Collins. In the aftermath of the 1994 Italian GP (The one where Herbert qualified 4th using a revised Mugan Engine and then was punted off at the first corner by Irvine) Warr and Collins put the team into receivership to prevent a winding up order from the courts. The team was purchased by David Hunt (James Hunt's brother) who tried to get enough capital to keep the team alive over the winter. There was a design for a new car and two drivers were under contract for the start of the season but it didn't come together and as a result David Hunt went in with Pacific GP who then ran as Pacific Lotus GP for a season before they too went bankrupt. If Litespeed bought the rights directly from David Hunt then it can be argued that it is a continuation of the same team.

There have been several examples of teams having a break from F1 and returning with new owners but continueing with the same history. Brabham for example was sold by Bernie then missed a season and returned. So have March who have been in and out of F1 and have had several different owners.

I agree if the name Team Lotus has been plucked out of thin air then yes it can't be the same team but a team ran from Norfolk by former Team Lotus engineers and using the rights as purchased from the legitimate holder of the name now that would be a different proposition.

 

[Brogan]

Agreed c_a_t, it all depends on how the new team is set up and the rights concerning the name.

We had enough trouble as it is when we did the original data so hopefully these new teams won't be too much trouble

 

[bogaTYR]

databases and F1, not a great combination bro