David Richards has ruled out a new effort to get his Prodrive company onto the Formula One grid for the 2011 season, saying that his team is fully focused on the World Rally Championship for the foreseeable future.
Prodrive have had a long and dubious history in attempting to secure a place in F1, with the company originally securing a slot on the grid in the middle of the last decade, only to have to withdraw when the FIA banned 'customer cars', ruining their plans to run a rebadged year-old McLaren Mercedes.
Then the company were overlooked somewhat controversially for a spot on the 2010 grid, with the FIA selecting Campos HRT, USF1 and Manor GP Virgin Racing instead.
The team made another effort to grab a 2010 grid slot when the Renault F1 team looked to sell a majority stake in their operation for this season, losing out in a straight bidding war to Luxembourg-based company Genii Capital.
And with the FIA searching for a new 13th team for the 2011 grid following the collapse of the hapless USF1 team, Prodrive had been expected to be one of the bidders for the spot once again.
However, Richards confirmed on Thursday that his company would not be bidding for the entry, saying that the team was focused on the WRC, and that given the problems the 2010 newbie teams had faced, he no longer felt that F1 was "an appropriate strategy" for the company.
"Our current focus is on Prodrive's return to the World Rally Championship in 2011 and that alone takes significant resource to design and develop a totally new car," Richards explained.
"Taking on the challenge of starting a brand new Formula 1 team, finding the necessary funding and developing the car from scratch is a massive undertaking and not to be under estimated.
"As expected, we've witnessed the financial and technical challenges that the new teams have faced this year in just getting to the grid, let alone being competitive and whilst I have enormous admiration for their efforts I don't believe this is an appropriate strategy for Prodrive or Aston Martin to adopt."
He added that: "We've enjoyed a successful involvement in F1 in the past and respect the value it can create; we will therefore keep a close eye on developments in the championship.
"However, I have always made it very clear that the timing for a Prodrive entry would be judged on two criteria: that we could be competitive and that the business case would make it a financially viable proposition. Today, if we were to adopt the strategy of starting a new team, I don't believe it is possible to meet these two conditions."
Prodrive's decision to stay out of the bidding means they join other 2010 entry bidders Team Superfund and Formtech in ruling themselves out of the running. With USF1 now having closed its doors, only former GP2 squad Durango and Epsilon Euskadi have submitted confirmed tenders for the 13th spot on the grid.
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