How the FIA failed entirely in expanding the grid
When it was announced that the FIA would be looking for new teams to bolster the F1 grid I was surprised – isn’t this a club where you have to know Bernie and have had dinner with him a few times plus have filled his pockets with gold before you can fill in the form? But no, they were indeed opening up F1, and they had a lot of applications.
The FIA (and Bernie) should have looked at the applications that were tabled and then thrown away the financially unsound ones and then looked at what was left, there was a lot of talk about due diligence at the time. This process was obviously not through enough, two of the teams that were granted entry have been sold and bought before the new season has even started (Campos Meta and Manor), and a third is rumoured to have mounting financial problems (US F1) only Lotus seems to have made it through unscathed.
I wonder if Stefan GP and Prodrive would have had these issues if they had been selected to join the fold? I very much doubt that they would have. So what was the opposition to adding these teams to the grid?
The process of expanding the grid should have been an exciting one for F1 fans, there should be four new teams out in Spain testing their new machines. There should be eight drivers eagerly awaiting the first race in Bahrain wondering if they can do what Brawn did last year. But there isn’t, there may be four drivers hoping that but there is no sign of the other four. Campos Meta may make the first race by virtue of the fact that someone else is building their car – all they have to do is pay for it. But of US F1 there is no sign. Out go the manufacturers and in come the no-hopers? I hope not but it’s clear they aren’t going to be that competitive if they haven’t made it to a single test.
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