The new F1 entrants . . . Campos, Manor, US F1 and Lotus/Proton

[stockhausen]

Lola boss Martin Birrane thinks one of the reasons his company missed out on a 2010 Formula 1 entry was because teams' commercial packages were prioritised over technical facilities in the FIA's evaluation.

http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=47459

For "teams' commercial packages" read "The Gnome's greed"


I believe that the successful teams are US F1, Campos, Manor and a Malaysian team named Lotus. It will be interesting to track how they perform in 2010 and whether the & M guy and the Gnome achieve their dream of a two-tier F1 series where the also-rans waste less on development in order to be in a position to pay more to the Gnome . . .

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Lola not getting a spot is annoying. They have it all as far as F1 entries are concerned. Not to mention a healthy respect for the sport after the Lola/Mastercard farce!!

 

[Smit]

Would be great if all of them can actually have a go at each other, would make the back of the pack more exciting than the front

 

[stockhausen]

Would be great if all of them can actually have a go at each other, would make the back of the pack more exciting than the front

It would also make for an interesting slalom course for the established teams about every 20 laps

 

[el_dazza]

Lola not getting a spot is annoying. They have it all as far as F1 entries are concerned. Not to mention a healthy respect for the sport after the Lola/Mastercard farce!!

I think having Ricardo Rosset in F1 for one less year can only have been a good thing! Terrible, terrible driver, topped off by completely failing to realise 12 other cars were ploughing into each other at Spa and going full throttle into the lot of them.

 

[EddScott]

Other than Manor, I've never heard of these other teams - do they have a motosport background?

You would think those entrants with a reasonable history in motorport in general might be a better bet - i.e. Lola and Prodrive.

I guess if the new teams don't work, the likes of Prodrive and Lola could come in as early as 2012? More dosh for the Anne Darwin lookalike?

 

[Flibster]

Other than Manor, I've never heard of these other teams - do they have a motosport background?

I'm not sure and I could be very wrong, but I do believe that Lotus has a small amount of motorsport history.

What with F1, Le Mans, Indy 500, Hill climbs, GT Racing....

After all, whats 13 F1 World Championships worth now... Nothing at all.

 

[Hxc]

This isn't "lotus" though.

 

[Fr0dders]

This isn't "lotus" though.

as i understand it though

its a team put together by proton, the owners of lotus using malaysian government money.

So to all intents and purposes it is lotus.

Its not like to be lotus they have to have the staff from nearly 30 years ago is it ?

 

[Flibster]

as i understand it though

its a team put together by proton, the owners of lotus using malaysian government money.

So to all intents and purposes it is lotus.

Its not like to be lotus they have to have the staff from nearly 30 years ago is it ?

Precicely, it IS Lotus.

It's not the Team Lotus effort that was initially put forward by Litespeed where the only resemblance was the name.

Although, if they want any of the staff from 30 years ago - a fair few of them are only down the road at Hethel working for Classic Team Lotus.

 

[JRS]

Lola not getting a spot is annoying. They have it all as far as F1 entries are concerned. Not to mention a healthy respect for the sport after the Lola/Mastercard farce!!

They were crap on their two last attempts at F1 (one being the aforementioned Lola/Mastercard debacle, the other being the fairly disastrous turn with Scuderia Italia in '93). And thinking about it, there were some funny goings-on when they linked up with Larrousse before that. And the tie-up with Haas during the turbo era was a bit of a failure as well (though to be fair, Lola didn't have a massive amount of input in that project despite their name being on the car). Before that, there was the very short association with Graham Hill's outfit and the partnership with Honda in the late '60s that resulted in just one victory. And you want to give them yet another shot at it? I think it's fair to say that they don't deserve one after '97 myself.

 

[BigglesPiP]

This isn't "lotus" though.

It is lotus, but it's not Chapman.

 

[JRS]

It is lotus, but it's not Chapman.

Chapman was dead long before Lotus left F1. And they still won races after his passing.

 

[Moley]

Of course the teams commercial packages were placed over the technical packages - F1 has a history of small teams with insufficient funding joining only to have to bow out halfway through a season. The FIA wanted to make sure that none of the new teams would do that and so did thorough due diligence on all the teams and the ones that passed were offered places.

 

[Guerrilla]

So long as they all make it to the track and don't all bow out/crumble after 1-2 seasons i will be happy.

It seems that can often be a lot to ask for though!

 

[Skeeter]

Its not Lotus.

Its nothing to do with Lotus Cars. To the extent Lotus Cars are considering legal action against them (although presumably untill after they establish if they are any good).

It is a team called Lotus F1 Team (NOT Team Lotus) that is actually independent entry, but with the rights to use the Lotus name. The company is in no way linked to Lotus Cars directly.

There is however a tenous link. The Lotus F1 Team is backed by a Malysian organisation that is in turn backed by the Malaysian government. And the Malaysian Government own Proton, who in tern own Lotus Cars.

So while the team has nothing in common or relation to the Lotus Cars company, high up the chain of ownership there is an organisaion (Malaysian government) with a vested interest in both parties.

Lotus F1 Team is Lotus in name and name alone.

 

[Flibster]

Its not Lotus.

Its nothing to do with Lotus Cars. To the extent Lotus Cars are considering legal action against them (although presumably untill after they establish if they are any good).

It is a team called Lotus F1 Team (NOT Team Lotus) that is actually independent entry, but with the rights to use the Lotus name. The company is in no way linked to Lotus Cars directly.

There is however a tenous link. The Lotus F1 Team is backed by a Malysian organisation that is in turn backed by the Malaysian government. And the Malaysian Government own Proton, who in tern own Lotus Cars.

So while the team has nothing in common or relation to the Lotus Cars company, high up the chain of ownership there is an organisaion (Malaysian government) with a vested interest in both parties.

Lotus F1 Team is Lotus in name and name alone.

They can't use the name Team Lotus, thats not owned by any of the Lotus Group. It's owned by David Hunt, brother of James. Litespeed had an agreement with him to use the Team Lotus name.

Group Lotus were considering legal action against Litespeed, but as Lotus F1 Team is effectively Proton *no Malaysian government money will go to the team* and Proton own Lotus, they can use it how they want and there isn't anything they can do as the name is being used legally.

As for not being linked to Lotus Cars, well neither was Team Lotus. They were seperate entities, hence Team Lotus going bankrupt and not taking Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering with it.

The only connection was the Lotus name and Colin Chapman.

Although from what I gather, Lotus Cars and Classic Team Lotus have both been invited to have involvement in Lotus F1 Team. I would absolutely love the rollout of the car next year to have all the championship winning Team Lotus cars alongside it. Would just be such a cool introduction.

And yes, I am going to support them and am planning to go see the car early next year.

 

[Skeeter]

They can't use the name Team Lotus, thats not owned by any of the Lotus Group. It's owned by David Hunt, brother of James. Litespeed had an agreement with him to use the Team Lotus name.

Group Lotus were considering legal action against Litespeed, but as Lotus F1 Team is effectively Proton *no Malaysian government money will go to the team* and Proton own Lotus, they can use it how they want and there isn't anything they can do as the name is being used legally.

As for not being linked to Lotus Cars, well neither was Team Lotus. They were seperate entities, hence Team Lotus going bankrupt and not taking Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering with it.

The only connection was the Lotus name and Colin Chapman.

Although from what I gather, Lotus Cars and Classic Team Lotus have both been invited to have involvement in Lotus F1 Team. I would absolutely love the rollout of the car next year to have all the championship winning Team Lotus cars alongside it. Would just be such a cool introduction.

And yes, I am going to support them and am planning to go see the car early next year.

But it will all fall apart when they win and play the Malaysian national anthem...

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

They were crap on their two last attempts at F1 (one being the aforementioned Lola/Mastercard debacle, the other being the fairly disastrous turn with Scuderia Italia in '93). And thinking about it, there were some funny goings-on when they linked up with Larrousse before that. And the tie-up with Haas during the turbo era was a bit of a failure as well (though to be fair, Lola didn't have a massive amount of input in that project despite their name being on the car). Before that, there was the very short association with Graham Hill's outfit and the partnership with Honda in the late '60s that resulted in just one victory. And you want to give them yet another shot at it? I think it's fair to say that they don't deserve one after '97 myself.

Mastercard pressured them into 97. The original plan was for 98. Suddenly they were forced to go for 97 with too little time, which led to a highly under-developed car, and ultimately a terrible first outing, which led them into ruin.

Had they entered in 98, i suspect they might still be around today in F1!

 

[JRS]

Mastercard pressured them into 97. The original plan was for 98. Suddenly they were forced to go for 97 with too little time, which led to a highly under-developed car, and ultimately a terrible first outing, which led them into ruin.

Had they entered in 98, i suspect they might still be around today in F1!

Maybe. The fact remains that they never really did particularly well in F1 on any of their attempts (the best being that link up with the Honda works team in the '60s). I still don't think they'd have done well even with the extra year to prepare.

That '97 effort does have to go down in history as one of the most farcical attempts at breaking into F1. Almost rivals Andrea Moda, and Life with their W12 engine. To pitch up at the opening round with a car that either hadn't seen any wind tunnel time at all or had seen only limited running in one....no wonder it was making all drag and no downforce.