This Friday is D-day for the embryonic teams hoping to make the F1 grade for next year. Assuming FOTA and the FIA sort themselves out, and the most recent noises from the ongoing discussion seem to indicate that they will inevitably do just that, the ten new F1 teams will wait and see if they are chosen for the three available spots on the final 2010 Entry List from the FIA. But which of the ragtag bunch of investment banks, old team names, strange lower formulae outfits and Alex Wurz will make the grade? Well, we have no idea, but here at Patty we're willing to put our non-existent reputation on the line and have a guess. - Prodrive
Dave Richards has reason to be confident that the FIA may pick his team for 2010. He's already been down the applications route back in 2006, and was chosen for the then final slot to bring the grid up to 24 cars, beating off opposition from the likes of F3 team Carlin Motorsport, Eddie Jordan and (shudder) Paul Stoddart. The potential kudos of Richards bringing the Aston Martin name with him to the grid will add a veneer of quality to his entry, even if the final effect of sticking the evocative badges on whichever bit of rubbish they race with will have all the plausibility of spray-tanning your way to a six-pack, and he has established links with McLaren to play with should the FOTA plan of a 'technical assistance' buddy system come to fruition. But Richards has said that the budget cap rules are central to any plans he has, and any climbdown on that point by the FIA could mean he gets priced out of the running.
Chances of making the grid: Good
- US Grand Prix Engineering (USGPE)
The people at USGPE (neé USF1) may feel a little miffed at the whole budget cap rule leading to such a rush of entries. They had confirmed their own plans to enter the 2010 championship way back in February, back when F1 was still staring at the potential of an 18 car grid for 2009, but what seemed set to be a straightforward waltz onto the grid has turned into a bit of a nightmare for the team, that now sees itself enter the lottery of hoping that the FIA pluck them out of the sea of waving hands clamouring to be dragged up onto the stage. Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson are both experienced motorsport heads, while the deposit to Cosworth is already paid for an engine supply, and preliminary doodling of their first car are said to be at an "advanced stage". With F1 needing to re-establish itself in the North American continent, USGPE could be seen as just the sort of cynical exploitative tool, erm, we mean focus for ardent American fan support, that it needs.
Chances of making the grid: Good
- Lola
A team with plenty of motorsport pedigree, expect for when it comes to F1. The FIA will be mindful that the last time they let Lola into their championship, they ended up bringing the stringent entry requirements of the post-Forti F1 world into something approaching disrepute, with their laughably derided Mastercard entry. Assuming they actually bother sticking their car in a wind tunnel this time though, the team still knows a thing or two about designing single-seaters from it's time in Champ Car and A1GP.. Again, the budget cap rules will be the sticking point for this team, with the company already admitting that the increase of the cap from £30 million to £40 million forced them to "re-examine their position". Any increase up to £50 million and beyond could see Lola disappear out of the bidding quicker than you can say "Isn't that Vincenzo Sospiri?".
Chance of making the grid: Fair
- Lotus/Litespeed[sic]
A tough one to read, this entry. On the one hand they have already put down the deposit for a Cosworth engine supply, and they've established a link with perennial F1 journeyman technical director Mike Gascoyne and his MGI company But on the other hand, they're a team that is currently struggling to extract a result out of a unique SLC F3 chassis in the secondary class of the British championship, and look for all the world as if the leap from F3 backmarkers to F1 backmarkers would realistically be a bridge too far. The potential kudos of seeing the Lotus name back on the F1 grid may be tempting for the FIA, but that particular marque has already been damaged by a final few painful years of backmarking, Philippe Adams and a link-up with the wilfully slow Pacific team.
Chance of making the grid: Poor
- Team Superfund
A late arrival to the party, but an entry that immediately leapt up amongst the favourites to make the 2010 grid. The decision to employ Alex Wurz as team principal is slightly peculiar, but with the backing of an Austrian investment bank they can certainly prove to the FIA that they have the necessary wedge required to compete in F1. Wurz has already spoken about Cosworth engines, and potentially renting space in the factory of an existing team in order to help streamline their introduction to the sport. On the other hand, Superfund have tasted the bitter pill of failure in motorsport before, earlier this decade their 'Formula Superfund' feeder series idea collapsed before a race had been run after literally nobody expressed an interest in actually competing in the thing.
Chance of making the grid: Fair
- Campos Meta1
Adrian Campos may have flunked badly during his time as an F1 driver, but he has blazed a trail in the lower formulae as a team owner, tasting success in F3 and GP2, and now convinced that the time is right to aim for the very top level of the sport. Which is a shame, because his own entry has been swamped by more exciting-looking prospects since he became one of the first to lodge his entry. Despite having backing from the 'Meta Image' company, the Campos effort is still ranked as a bit of an outside bet for a place on the grid. Which is probably fair.
Chance of making the grid: Poor
- Epsilon Euskadi
The former Le Mans racers are certainly talking the talk. Boss Joan Villadelprat has said that his team already has the fund to run through to 2014 in F1, even with the potential loss of the budget cap as the FIA and FOTA hammer out a final rules agreement. Whether the FIA will consider that a quirkily-named sportscar manufacturer will really be the thing to spark any interest in F1, other than excited spotting of typos in the team name on Patronise. Villadelprat does have F1 experience though, while he has Sergio Rinland helping out with the design, who worked for Benetton, Sauber and Arrows in the early part of the decade.
Chance of making the grid: Fair
- March Racing Organisation
A real surprise entry, if only because the original team was set up by Max Mosley and chums in 1969. Little is known about the real plans for this team though, other than the team name is now owned by Andrew Fitton, the chairman of Swindon Town Football Club, and if accepted they would follow most of the new teams in taking up a supply of standardised Cosworth engines in 2010. So yeah, this probably won't happen.
Chance of making the grid: Poor
One of the more bizarre entries to have emerged during this free-for-all. What we have here is a German tool designing firm, who bought the assets to Super Aguri, and are planning to race in F1 with the Brabham name. This entry has everything. Apart from maybe any chance of making the grid. Or indeed the rights to use the Brabham name.
Chance of making the grid: Poor
- N.Technology
Wuh? A last-second entry? From a team most famous for running some barely-modified repmobiles in the World Touring Car series? No. Just no.
Chance of making the grid: Nil
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