I was reading some comments from FIA race director Charlie Whiting today regarding the concept of teams running third cars and I understand his concerns, the concerns of the teams and the reasons some team would want to.
The interesting part of the article for me was his comment about partnerships within F1 such as Haas F1 and Ferrari.
“Getting new teams, as we know, is tantamount to impossible at the moment,” Whiting said.
“But that’s something that we’re hoping will improve, of course, if everything works out as planned, with the revenue distribution and the cost cap.
“The car will hopefully be regulated where the non-performance parts are standard or prescribed, and the performance differentiating parts are team only, where you can’t get them from everybody else.
“A lot of the stuff that Haas currently buys from Ferrari will be prescribed or standard.
“However the suspension, brake ducts, air ducts, all of those are currently non-listed, so they are allowed to buy those, and there is huge performance in them.”
It’s an interesting thought on a few fronts to be honest. One, the concept of it being nearly impossible to get new teams interested in joining F1 at the moment. I understand few would want to enter on the heels of an engine regulation and the sooner they can cement the future path, the better.
It is also interesting to hear him say he is hopeful for the new revenue distribution model and cost cap. Those aren’t topics that have been fully exposed in the press about what the FIA and F1 are thinking in terms of new distribution models but with no new teams entering and the threat of reducing the amount of money the team make from F1, you might assume that the teams have the negotiating leverage in this discussion.
The non-listed parts program is an interesting one and the FIA says they have closed the loop hole on this but it does make you wonder if it is one of the last compelling elements that would lure a new team into the sport.
Hat Tip: Autosport
the only reason new teams aren’t coming into the sport is that they don’t have a chance with the current Formula.
Yeah, that also bumps up against the fans that feel that stable regulations beget better and closer racing over time and that may be proven out in history but it also means that any new team wanting to enter into a series with such a mature regulation set might be less compelled to do so because of that?
As a slight tangent branching off on this subject, if it’s nearly impossible for a new team to come in, would that constitute a barrier to trade?
I suspect it was not only a set formula but relatively easy to get into, not that you going to win or do much except scrape out some points, but with a hungry youngster driving and some interesting mods and some luck you could do ok) now with the death of ad money, and a very expensive formula. its almost looking like sports car racing of the past where one team is dominant and the others playing catch up. it wouldn’t take much a recession to make the manufacturers (except Ferrari) to pull the plug Mercedes because its proven itself,… Read more »
I’d imagine stable, or at least predictable, regulations would be preferable to getting new teams into F1.
The recent period with a huge step change (Hybrid p.u and chassis) followed by a sequence of big steps (Bernie’s Big Wheels and wings, Halo chassis, Inwash Aero) have been hugely expensive.
However, Haas give the lie to the idea that teams can’t come in to F1 under those conditions and be competitive.
At the moment F1 looks like the pinnacle of ‘high risk, low reward’ .
The comments from Ross Brawn in the article linked below suggest that L.M have been able to broker an agreement for cost constraints. No mention of common parts, but if this is correct, and they have got Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull on board, it could be the game changer we’ve been hoping for.
https://www.grandprix247.com/2018/09/21/brawn-void-between-top-three-and-the-rest-is-too-big/