planetf1.com

Coming to a surprise that Scorpion attempted to enter the F1 grid after they came late when HRT closed their doors. Now a chinese team who just recently entered into the Le Mans 24 hour race are looking to enter into F1.

http://www.flagworld.com/news/2013/02/1 ... m-eyes-f1/

Last time they did the selection they chose 3 teams USGP, Manor GP and HRT. USGP failed before they even started, HRT tried, sold, tried again and quit. What started of as Manor sold to Virgin, tried, sold to Marussia. Thats 1 team left for maybe a couple of years more. They should have let Prodrive (David Richards) in when they were interested.

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PF1 Pick 10
Aus13: 2nd
Chi13: 3rd

Obviously not on for this year but in the future it would be good to see them. More the merrier I say.

ProDrive, and Lola. While KC perhaps deserve a chance, I hold out little hope.

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The one thing that struck me as I read that earlier is... this group is just fielding its 1st team for LeMans this year.

Makes me wonder if 2014 might not be a bit ambitious unless it buys an existing F1 team or infrastructure. If it was a LeMans team already in existence, that had worked out the kinks and had some success there, it seems far more likely IMO. But it just seems like a lot to assume before they even run its 1st LeMans race, that its ready to add an F1 operation.

Personally, if they make it a go, more power to them, as 12 teams seems like a good number... not so many that the circuit is congested, but enough that it means there is racing pretty much all around the track continously even if at different levels... for the lead/podium... for the points... among midfield teams... and even among the backmarker/newer teams. (Might not be much interest to many fans, but I find it interesting seeing the battle between the likes of Caterhams, Marussias and HRTs as they have their own race to see which is showing the most improvement.) And it might just keep a few drivers around, and maybe NK can buy a seat elsewhere rather than using up a midfield seat to continue his career as partying F1 driver.

Yeah because Prodrive has done such a great job in other series since.
Richards was only interested if he could purchase McLaren chassis', full customer teams have no place in F1 anymore.

What he said.

It's always good to have battles going on throughout the field.

First of all it depends on the finances of the guy behind it. If he's like Vijay Mallya then there's no reason why he can't make a genuine go of the sport, but if he's trying to do this on the cheap or reliant upon attracting other investors then IMO it's not viable.

The other problem is that from what I can tell the F1 operation is going to have to be started from scratch. AFAIK there's no F1 team for sale, or is Toro Rosso is still on the market? I'd imagine it's much harder to start one from scratch. Even though 2014 is probably the right year to aim for because there are such substantial regulation changes that will impact everyone, there's still the matter of infrastructure and personnel.

I'm sure Ecclestone would be supportive of any venture because it's one of the markets he wants to pursue.

Having said that the article doesn't indicate that the guy behind it is about to start aiming for 2014, just that his goal is to be behind the first Chinese F1 team. As is always the case with F1 things will have changed in a couple of years and maybe at that point there will be a team available for sale that already exists in line with the new series of regulations.

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Formerly kai_

The question I always ask when new teams like this pop up with aspirations of getting into F1 is 'What are you hoping to get from involvement in the sport?'

If their answer is anything remotely related to business, then they don't have a hope in hell. This is a sport, not an investment opportunity, and anyone who ever came in hoping to make a profit failed.

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Prodrive is one of the most successful outfits is the motorsports. They've won the WRC 5 times, and over a 100 other important rallies. Also they won the BTCC 5 times. Dave Richards was the same guy to mentor Colin Mcrae in WRC. In F1, Craig Pollock and JV were extremely close then At BAR. Craig Pollock was asked to leave. JV lost complete motivation then. Dave Richards was the guy who motivated JV who then went on to win many races. Dave Richards was the guy who transformed BAR Honda then. Thats just the brief history for you about Prodrive and Dave Richards. What is the problem with having a customer chassis to begin with. You know why he couldnt get through in the last selection process. It because Frank Williams vetoed the idea of customer chassis. The same Frank Williams who started his career in F1 with a customer chassis himself. Ferrari and Mclaren didnt have any problems with the entry. Withing a year or 2 they could have built their own chassis. Anyways the point I was making was it would have been a safe bet if Prodrive was let in then when 2 out of the 3 teams the FIA selected has packed up and left in the 3 yrs.

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PF1 Pick 10
Aus13: 2nd
Chi13: 3rd

Went on to win many races? not with BAR or with any other F1 team. In fact as far as I can see, apart from ice racing, the only significant race that JV has won since 2004 (edit: make that since 1997) is the 2008 Spa 1,000 km race.

Um - What?

I'm mystified by this as well. My recollection is that after 1997 at Williams Villeneuve failed to win a race at all. He moved to BAR in 1999 and had a miserable few seasons there before leaving. Then he replaced Trulli at Renault for the remainder of the 2004 season, followed by Sauber in 2005 and then BMW didn't really want him for 2006 but were forced to honour the contract until he was ill and they booted him out from the Hungarian GP onwards.

That's not to take anything away from Dave Richards, though. He did a pretty admirable job with BAR, given that from what I understand he clashed with Honda over the manner in which things should be done and there were a lot of problems on that front. But, as has been said, customer cars were a crucial requirement of his entry and that wasn't realistic.

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Formerly kai_

I know Prodrive's and Dave Richards' history (though it's pretty clear that your recollection is hazy), but what I said if you read my comment was that since being turned down for the 2008 F1 season Prodrive have been bad.
The last 'aero dependent' car they designed was the abysmal AMR-One, which in front of my very eyes completed 6 (yes six!) laps at Le Mans 2011 at incredibly slow speeds. After that they went back to racing the old Lola chassis they'd used previously and then scuttled back off to GTs.

Why people continually say Prodrive should've gotten the F1 gig is beyond me. They make good rally and GT cars sure, but why do people think that makes them fit for F1?

Lentulus: I got what said earlier AND what your saying now. Yes they made a few crap cars since. BUT my whole point of saying that, and yea I am sorry I didnt mention it earlier, is.... Dave Richards has experience of F1 before and various other motorsports. He has a racers mind. Like Ron and Williams etc. What did HRT have? It was an backed by a family owned investment company? USGP had some people of a racing background but it didnt take off. Marussia is a car company in Russia. There presence is mostly in Russia and the former Soviet Bloc countries. They are not a global brand like Mercedes or Ferrari. So They will go on for a year or two then they are gone (a la Spykar) Prodrive would have been a much safer bet for the long term.

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PF1 Pick 10
Aus13: 2nd
Chi13: 3rd

@ Rest: Yes I got JV career a little muddled up..... My bad.

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PF1 Pick 10
Aus13: 2nd
Chi13: 3rd

Ok, so back to business, the article just makes a vague approach to F1, just like AUDI, for instance, said that they don't rule out coming to F1 in the future. That may be the near future, or 50+ years future...so no need to jump ship too rapidly; sounds more like wishful thinking, I doubt we'll see about a Chinese bid sometimes soon.

As for potential bidders, who knows how, when, what would have happened with Prodrive,or Lola, or... Let's remember that Caterham (ex-Lotus) was only a spare bid, and it turned out better than the initial accepted teams. Force India and his ownership - honestly, a nobody in terms of motor racing history - fared much better than the previous owner, Spyker, which was supposed to have a solid racing knowledge. And so on and so forth.

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Olivier Panis fan.
...and also Jenson Button fan.

Uhm wait there is't even a 12th team in F1 at the moment, so how can there be talk of a 13th team?

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F1 fan since 1989

Marussia wasn't the entry, it was Manor, who have a very good racing pedigree. Get the feeling a lot of your info comes from Wikipedia! your earlier comment about Richards helping Villeneuve win many races at BAR/Honda made me laugh. I don't think you were alive or old enough to watch F1 then cause anyone who did would know that Villeneuve was murder after his Williams days.

Also, HRT were not the entry either! Lastly those teams applied thinking there was going to be a budget cap which never materialised.