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With some talk of who might take up the remaining spot, I got thinking about potential supercar manufacturers who could give it a shot.

They've got the status of having (had) the fastest roadcar, but they're still not a household name like Ferrari, Porsche or Lambo. Could F1, in the long-run, possibly turn their operation into something bigger and better?

There's no shortage of decent Scandinavian drivers to take the helm in one of the seats, and an up'n'coming race from India/Brazil/Russia/China would help the brand operate in developing markets.

Would be nice to see some new names around. What's stopping them from giving them a shot?

And are there any other sportscar manufacturers you think should give it a go (who aren't the usual suspects)?

I doubt if they would have enough spare cash to run an F1 team

Personally, id love to see a Koenigsegg F1 team being established and developed for the long term. But its hard for teams to be successful in F1 without decent financial backing and top design/technical developing. Look at the current 3 new teams. 1 has folded, the other two are slowly catching up, but still are really nowhere. Would a brand like Koenigsegg want to risk damaging publicity of possibly coming in, being weak, then bowing out?

Unless someone buys HRT (hell will freeze over before that happens), there will be 11 teams on the grid for 2013. There is a massive rule change coming, so its pointless for a new team to come in and spend money developing a car that is bound to be (at least initially) weak, and will be useless in 12 months time.

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Forza Ferrari

Possibly a sponsorship deal like Lotus Renault did last year but they don't have anywhere near the cash to throw at running an F1 team.

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I remember when this website was all fields.

I don't think they are big enough to merit it.

Running an F1 team costs a hell of a lot of money, and I'd guess for a short while you initially have to run out of your pocket. I can't see an advertiser paying that much for a new team, and you also have no guarantee you will get the results to start making money in the near future. So you really need to be backed by a billionaire, backed by a huge corporation or you end up like HRT and Marussia. Then you probably can't afford the best drivers available, and a pay driver seems like a way to get a few million more on the balance sheet. So you've got a car slower than the rest, you are operation at a loss, you can't afford to pump in the many millions to get the car going faster and you have drivers that may be of a lower skill level than the rest. And all that gets you is the ability to look like you are slower than other companies, or less reliable than them, thereby damaging your brand - especially if you are selling fast cars.


For the record, I'd like a big manufacturer back, but to start from scratch would cost more than Koenigsegg could afford imo. Also, producing 2 more cars as a function of their total output is actually quite a lot. I'm sure I remember seeing that they sold less than 30 cars a year as is (admittedly that is close to or matching their total production).

Hyundai maybe? They've been slowly working hard and have now caught up and even beaten their Japanese competitors in Honda and Toyota. They may not want to have a team of their own but come in with major backing like BMW did with Williams. Williams has the know how, the technical support staff and had a pretty decent car this year. I'm sure with major cash injection they can once again populate the sharp end of the grid consistently

This..
Infact I know they don't.
But the idea is cool. I love Koenigsegg. Too bad I will never ever have the money to buy one..

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They have the money, but the performance of the Korean GP could make them shudder. Ironically, if Hyundai got involved it would probably do wonders for F1 in Korea.