The managing director of the new F1 team Campos Meta, has said that their plans for the sport have been complicated by the removal of the budget cap from the 2010 regulations, but says the team can still be a success in the sport.
Campos saw his team chosen to join the sport in 2010 as the grid looks to expand from 20 to 26 cars. He, along with USF1 and Manor Grand Prix, originally joined up when the proposed £40 million yearly budget cap was in place, but have remained committed to the sport even when the cap was dropped in order to appease the money-hungry manufacturers.
Instead, a dubious "cost-reduction" programme has been agreed by the teams and the FIA< which will attempt to bring costs down to levels they were at some time ago.
Managing Director Daniel Audetto, who has previously worked with F1 success stories Super Aguri, revealed in an interview that the team nearly lost their investors when the cap was scrapped.
"Our investors, who already put the money up front because the FIA had to do a thorough due diligence, they are not happy at all, and we can even say upset, with how things have been handled with the entries," Audetto moaned to Autosport.com.
"When we entered and we showed we had the resources and money, which was set at £40 million for the budget cap, we had the guarantee of many performance advantages. First there was the engine being set at 20,000rpm. There was the unlimited number of engines per season, there was unlimited testing mileage. We had also some aerodynamic devices, and other little elements too.
"These all disappeared, and the only thing that did not disappear was the budget we already had. So we cannot now afford to go the level of others, so with £40 million, and 120-130 people will be very tough."
He paused for dramatic effect and then continued: I have to tell you, at one point, the investors considered pulling out totally, to stop. So for me, but especially for Adrian [Campos], it was not easy to convince them to stay, because we could no longer promise the moon.
"They had already spent in the region of 8 million Euros, and they even consulted their lawyers, about the situation - and it would have been the end forever because if you start legal action then it is difficult to come back from there."
Aside from no longer being able to promise any moons, Audetto believes that the Campos team still has a good chance to establish itself in the sport. The team has earmarked January as the deadline to get their first F1 challenger onto the track, while they are believed to be close to deals with key sponsors and drivers.
"From September, we will start to make our presentations to potential sponsors and we will start to close some deals with drivers, because drivers and sponsors are often connected," he rambled.
"So from next month, we will become more operational and fully operations from October 1, with the first test in the middle of January. Then we will be built up from a small budget, and if we can show like we did with Super Aguri that we are professional, that we can do well compared with the money we have, I think we can attract more sponsors and investors."
He added that: "We are also relying on the FOTA cost reduction programme that eventually, when the costs are reduced to what they were in the early 1990s, then everyone will be close to our budget. But that will take three years."
As for the driver situation, Audetto revealed that the team was in discussions with "six or seven drivers", but added that they would not rush any decisions on that front.
"We are not in any hurry," he smiled, "In our situation, where we are a new team, and because of what is going on in F1, with BMW and with the reduction of costs, I think we well wait until October or the end of the championship. We are not in a hurry. We are not going to test the car until the middle of January, so maybe we can get a better deal then. But if there is an opportunity to get a good driver with a good deal now then we will do it.
"Adrian will make the decision because of his experience and his knowledge. He brought up Fernando Alonso, so there is no one better than Adrian to choose. I can help him with my advice, but the final decision is his."
The team is rumoured to be aiming to get Russian GP2 makeweight Vitaly Petrov in one seat, with an experienced Spanish driver, either Marc Gene or Pedro de la Rosa, in the second seat.
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