The FIA has opened a selection process to identify a candidate team to participate as the 12th team in the Formula One World Championship from the start of the 2015 or 2016. The details of what is required will be given to those who register a formal expression of interest with the FIA’s Secretariat before 5pm CET on Friday January 3 2014.
It is a good idea to keep the World Championship “topped up” with teams, but it is rather harder to figure out why anyone would want to apply for a slot unless they have untold amounts of money. And that being the case, it would probably be wiser to buy an existing team, rather than trying to build up the infrastructure required. The other factor that is likely to dissuade everyone from getting involved is that there is currently no official Concorde Agreement for the series, merely a handful of bilateral agreements that tie various parties to various agreements. There is, as yet, not actual document to cover everything. And that means that there is no official structure for what a 12th team would get from the Commercial Rights Holder. This year Marussia, the 11th team, had to negotiate endlessly to get a payment equivalent to the Column 3 payment that was included in the previous Concorde Agreement. Things might look a little rosier if there was a Concorde Agreement which locked up all the details until 2020. But even with that in place and some arrangement for the 12th team, it still makes more sense to buy a distressed operation, of which there are several at the moment.
The only organisations for which a new franchise would make sense would be a big manufacturer with all the necessary infrastructure already in place, including a wind tunnel, composite manufacturing facilities, testing rigs, simulators and so on. One can buy in this expertise but that will only get you to a certain level on the grid as your suppliers will not want to be beaten by their customers. It is also not clear how a new team would be able to build up this stuff if there is a cost cap.
joeblogsf1 
Possible return of Toyota?
Are the Toyota and Epsilon Euskadi factories still up to scratch? If so, anyone with a shipload of cash could at least start out with the proper facilities.
Yeah, good facilities is the wrong places…
Ha ha… good point. If only they were in Motorsport Valley. 🙂
Which reminds me of the ex-Super Aguri, ex-Arrows facilities…
hence why Caterham have moved to the facilities in leafield
I don’t get your point.
Any chance of Dave Richards reviving his Prodrive bid yet again?
Or any GP2 (or other) teams who might look to make the step up?
I doubt it.
David Richards has had his pockets emptied by the Aston Martin acquisition.
No Concorde agreement = job security for the maestro once he gets those pesky lawyers from nipping at his ankles.
Stefan GP with Jacques Villeneuve firmly in the drivers seat then…
I fear that Pandora’s box has been opened…
Toyota, maybe? I’d like to think that if they’re interested in a 12th team is because there’s someone interested and interesting who wants to come top the F1…
Hi Joe,
The wifey is ordering me GP+ subscription for Christmas (yay). Will there be a January preseason edition or is it solely focused in the individual races?
I’d prefer to not have to purchase garden variety made up stories from the newsagent mags.
Cheers
There will be a pre-season edition in February or early march. And we are going to throw in the 2013 seasonal review so you can enjoy that from the start of the subscription.
Great. I cannot wait! Thanks Joe. (Best Christmas present for a while)
Finally something sensible happens in the F1 world.
Some have surmised that given the short timeframes, someone has already made an approach to Bernie/Todt – do you think Toyota are looking to get back in the game to rival Honda? Or I also seem to remember someone commenting after Texas that a US group were interested.
I would be very surprised if Toyota returned. They proved conclusively last time that they are much better at making road cars than competing with F1 teams. I think they will keep it that way.
Crazy. Plain crazy. Look what happened when Virgin, Caterham / Lotus and HRT came in. Promises of a specific financial structure which where then blown out of the water.
Other, more robust operations(??), were declined an entry – was it because a Cosworth engine was “implied” or “favoured” by Max?
It’s “buy an existing setup boys” not “build a rocket boys”…
Don’t trust this lot in charge of the asylum
There will always be someone willing to throw bucket loads away either their own or someone else’s.
Throwing money away is fine. But there are sensible ways to throw money away and downright stupid ones. Even the third generation wealthy folk don’t always go for the stupid route.
Thanks Joe.
Welcome back Toyota.
As many have already suggested the time-frame for submission outlined in the invitation suggests there is an interested party in mind. The wording also implies the FIA are relatively confident that the submission is for a 12th team, not a 10th / 11th team. Suggesting the grid maybe more secure than some might have us believe.
I think they are still in pain…
when hrt folded they had not a lot to sell except the entry and nobody wanted that, while the budget cap is probably going to be large enough that smaller teams will still be way behind. ie theyre not gonna set it to whatever the budget of the weakest team is, so it will always be an exercise in relativism. end of the day, if a big manufacturer, eg bmw, really wanted to join as a startup team, its not likely they would have to go through a bidding process is it? space on the grid would be found
I’m sure Parris Mullins will be there, with money in hand, ready to start his new F1 team. 😛
I don’t think a Concorde Agreement is nessecary for F1.
United we stand… Divided we fall. It is much more entertaining for fans and profitable for the owners whilst F1 is self serving and divided.
Joe,
You don’t think the announcement we are going to have a cost cap in 2015 was designed to lure people in for the 12th team? I doubt anyone will want to jump in after the last time when the cost cap did not really happen. So how will the timing of these two occur I wonder. Cap and then new team selection or vice versa.
There is no logic in starting a new team, as far as I can tell.
Time for VAG to make an entrance? Audi have been dominating LMP1 for some time now, be good to see a serious company like them, not another HRT….
It will not happen until a few changes occur in F1. After that I think it will happen quickly.
Would you be able to elaborate and give examples? I’ve always been a fan of VAG automobiles and been hoping they would enter the sport under one of their many brands.
I know its ridiculously childish and immature but i cant help but smirk every time someone make a post like this about VAG
It almost sounded like they had someone specifically in mind making this particular announcement and the very short deadline. Honda coming back as a powertrain supplier is great news, but I can’t imagine any other big manufacturer is clamouring to come back full swing in 2015 are they? Maybe 2016 since they could have a few years to see how the dust settles on all the current events.
Maybe they would like ART Grand Prix to live up to its name?
drilling your sound logic down, then there are 2 options.
1. buy an existing team
2. be a manufacturer and buy some assets.
Option 2 could only really happen if it were Germany, hence the Toyota facilities which are sitting there pretty much idol. Hence, possibly a Porsche, or Audi, or VW (VAG) effort with the purchase of the Toyota assets?
Is this what you are speculating?
No
The FIA seems to be on somekind of a roll these days, doesn’t it? I’m not certain how to actually classify it, save to say that since David Ward pointed out a lot of how the inner workings of the organization, it seems things have been rather erratic. Today they are looking for a new team for F1. Not even Audi, a major automotive manufacturer and multi time Le Mans winner qualifies for this as they sublet the monoquoque of their cars to Dallara to do for them. In the short time we’ve seen Jean Todt’s wakky acceptance speech, this, and in between the ridiculous new points rule for Abu Dhabi, one cannot but question the level of sanity the group has at this stage of the game. Regarding the new points ruling for Abu Dhabi, unless I missed an e-mail, I have not seen my favorite F1 sage, Joe Saward, comment on this. My guess is that every time he sits and writes the blog on the subject, it can’t help but come out as a seething poison pen piece and he discards it. Perhaps in the political arena of reporting in F1, one only wants to push the gamut so far and in that issue one can only report what a laughing stock the FIA is proving to be. That in itself could prove to be a bridge burner, so in the case of the Abu Dhabi double points, perhaps discression is the better part of valor?
If even midfielders like Lotus and Sauber are struggling with money, what would justify to spend a fortune to end up 11th or 12th?
Does it improve the show? Or is it a joke?
Could it be that they already have someone in mind, possibly a big manufacterer?
Time for us to group together for Team Saward F1…
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LOLA-FORMULA-F1-CARS-FOR-SALE-/181274704910?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2a34d07c0e
Great Idea, Joe will make a brilliant team principal, probably need a couple of pay drivers though.
Yeah, not exactly rolling in cash…
@Joe,
A slot for Igor Mazepa to enter with a Russian team? He has certainly made his intentions clear in the past 18 months.
I think the FIA is providing for loosing some of the small teams in the next two years, because they are either flat broke or because of a merger? But Mr. Saward put it very well as always, who should come under such circumstances?? It could only be a “player” like Audi or Toyota. I still doubt we will see two VAG brands in WEC during the next years…
I think Joe’s summary defines pretty much what the pitfalls are for a new entrant, cost cap or no.
Toyota are too engrossed with car recalls, VAG/Porsche won’t trade with the FIA or Bernie until things are a bit more fixed and known about, GM wouldn’t get the funding, having not long come out of Chapter 11 or whatever, drop back down the scale and there are vanishingly few companies with the necessary finance, and possible fewer still skilled people to pick up to operate the team.
Certainly seems a bit of a mystery to me, I wonder if we could see something ‘unusual’ happening as far as a potential new team, possibly a consortium instead of a company, but with a recognised auto company as the figurehead?
Could Audi be about to pull out of Le Mans after this year and switch to F1? What more can they achieve there – they have won it ten times in 14 starts – clearly they can design (and run) a good car. Would they need a Commercial partner to put in money?
VAG would still have a presence there with Porsche and the move puts Audi up against some of it’s main competitors.
Or – if we are ruling out Toyota – is Hyundai too much of a wild stab in the dark? The world’s fifth largest carmaker (based on annual vehicle sales in 2012), $9bn profit worldwide, recent recruitment drive (admittedly mainly Rally and Endurance staff), newly-built and expanding technical base in Germany…
In my opinion:
No to Audi. As I have said previously one or two things need to change in F1 for any of the VW brands to enter the sport. Giving more details might be deemed to be impertinent.
No to Hyundai. They are going WRC.
No to Toyota. They learned a painful lesson.
Is it possible that Hyundai could be using the WRC as a toe in the water? With a new head of Hyundai Motorsport, I’m hoping he doesn’t suffer from a case of the “Dani Bahar”s…
Could we be looking at interest from the other side of the pond? With a successful USGP, could a US team be the next step?
Andretti seems to be more Michael than Mario – could he regard F1 as unfinished business?
Or even a Ganassi F1 project? Could Penske return to F1?
Or are we seeing a GP2 team making the step up?
I appreciate that you don’t have the answer, but you are certainly better placed than most to give an opinion on the likely source of any new entry.
No, I doubt it.
Epsilon Euskadi and Prodrive have the facilities and desire to be in F1, if either of them have found a major sponsor then I could see them asking for a spot. With potentiality 2 races in the U.S. and a possible 4 on the North American continent one or 2 of the U.S. open wheel teams may be watching the current trends in F1. I just hope that whoever is asking to jump in to the frying pan is not basing their budget on the trumpeted cost cap.
I don’t think Epsilon Euskadi exists any more. It went into administration in 2012 and the team boss Joan Villadelprat has been in legal hot water ever since.
The only ones (from car manufacturers) that I can see having the required money and will to enter F1 these days (besides the already mentioned Toyota and VW) are Chinese brands. Perhaps Great Wall…
I think it would be unwise to try to do it on their own. Even the Spaniards could not get their heads around F1 so the Chinese would be really at sea. Better to buy a team and allow experts to do it for them. All that you need is a licence from the country and a suitable face that fits: a la Force India.
As I wrote in an article in GP+ last year: “The truth is that if you walk into Red Bull Racing in Milton Keynes or Mercedes AMG Petronas in Brackley and start talking in German, the staff are going to be more than bemused. If you go to Marussia in Brackley and break into Russian, they are not likely to call you Comrade; and if you go to Force India at Silverstone and ask for an Indian, they
will send you to a restaurant in nearby Towcester.”
I absolutely agree. They can do it being based in England (building the facilities there) and hiring staff from other teams or even available people who have Formula 1 experience like Caterham and Marussia did. They certainly have the means. The only thing is that the bosses speak Chinese and it is required for Yuans to be converted in Euros in order to finance the team.
A new Honda works team in 2016 perhaps?
Why make the mistake twice?
And so shortly after being burned the first time?
Yes last time may not have worked out for Honda so well but only because they pulled out 1 year too soon they actually had turned the corner. Who knows but if they had stayed for 2009 the Brawn car with some development money might have won every race that season such was their head start. Even with them shoehorning in a Merc engine it wasn’t designed for they were still 1.5-2 seconds a lap faster then everyone else straight out the box.
If Honda had stayed we might be talking about them having a period of Red Bull style dominance or at the very least they would have had 1 drivers and 1 constructors title and then their F1 adventure wouldn’t be seen as such a failure remembered only by the awful Earth cars.
How about a Honda B team run by using McLaren’s infrastructure? If history repeats itself, they need a place for a mediocre Japanese driver sooner or later, and McLaren seems to have more capacity than they need judging by the technology deals they’ve made with smaller teams.
I find myself in a strange position of actually approving of something the FIA is doing! One might argue that this is probably not actually known for sure, but more under the heading of ‘informed speculation’ so even if it turns out that there is no-one out there currently who is willing to put in a serious proposal (no tyre-kickers please!) it will still generate some useful market intel, particularly to clarify exactly why no-one wants to engage in F1 at the moment and what needs to change. We often accuse F1/FIA of being too inward looking, so perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to judge when they try to open it up to the wider world …
If a team was accepted in January/February and didn’t have to start until 2015 or even 2016, when would the budget cap come into place?
Would there be anything to stop them doing what VW and Hyundai have done in WRC by doing thousands of testing miles for a year or so before turning up for their first race?
The team would not be selected until some point in 2014. Not January.
Sorry, that’s the deadline isn’t it? Whenever they’re accepted, would they have to adhere to the same budget and testing restrictions as everyone else?
No, January is when they have to submit their intentions – selection will be later.
I would hope 2 or 3 possible entities would apply, all predicated on the soon to be enacted cost cap.
It is unlikely to be Toyota, because they are currently in the process of building a new Yaris for WRC. Also the TMG centre in Cologne is unlikely to be sold because it is making money. My German friend who is close to VAG, says that they like their current position of being a big fish in the smallish pond of WEC, and they are looking at being more effective in their PR Comms.
Joe,
It’s great to try to get new blood into the sport, but the barrier to entry seems to be so high, as you have pointed out with Marussia’s struggle to get any payments. It’s fine for the FIA to invite statements of interest, but the commercial rights holder does not seem to be predisposed to sharing out the income all the way down to the lower tier teams (although, as an outsider, I do not pretend to know how that works).
Compare today with the earlier times when people like Frank Williams and Lord Hesketh could buy and run a customer car for a few seasons before developing and running their own chassis. Even STR early on was able to run prior seasons’ RB cars until they began building their own (although, of course, STR is RB’s farm team). Super Aguri did something similar with Honda until they folded.
It’s a sad commentary that nobody in their right mind would start an F1 team…
This announcement conspicuously coincides with the budget cap v2.0 proposal. Anyone still willing to trust FIA and risk being wound up?
Ford has a pretty sizable European manufacturing base if I am not mistaken. If I recall, they have a plant in Germany that manufactures the Fusion. A few more places that make parts as well.
I know it’s a stretch, and a perhaps a pipe-dream… but could they possibly have what it takes? When the FIA mentions their “long-term goals”, it almost sounds like they could be referring to expanding their presence in the States.
One can hope.
So maybe Ross Brawn isn’t going fishing……
BMW would be the most logical fit for a big manufacturer – 1.6l turbo engines and KERS as in their road cars, rivalry with Mercedes etc but then they could easily get back in via Sauber. They would also need to develop an engine for 2016 entry at the soonest.
They are only really involved in DTM and have already won that so could look to bigger things.
Joe – something that hasn’t been mentioned is the potential impact on the prize money pool. Having another team could potential reduce the amount available to the other teams. Given that self-interest drives the sport, it would be hard to see why the other teams, particularly those at the bottom, would allow another competitor.
The pool is the pool. Outside the top 10 you get nothing unless BE pays.
Napier – BMW ??? Or on a less serious note BRM ……laugh!
Perhaps this is a stalking horse for those teams wishing for the ability to sell customer cars. The FIA can say safely that no one came forward to accept thie invitation after a couple of low end teams have to fold and the field is in need of being filled out.
My solution which is no stranger that some of the current changes is for the bottom team each year to be permitted to sell its next years car to a new entrant. Easy to get in and a bit of ffinacial help. Better than DRS, silly tires or double points.
There is a story here in the states that it could in fact be Andretti Autosport under the guise of Ferrari B team like Toro Rosso is to Red Bull. Ferrari has the biggest market here in the states and Andretti are keen to get involved in F1 with their son driving one of the cars.
Customer cars are not allowed.
What about a Tata-backed return of Jaguar or a Chinese-backed Volvo entry?