No place for Stefan GP, an unfortunate renaming for Campos Meta and a footnote on USF1, who appear destined to be no more than that.
1. Jenson Button (GBR) McLaren
2. Lewis Hamilton (GBR)
3. Michael Schumacher (GER) Mercedes
4. Nico Rosberg (GER)
5. Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull Racing
6. Mark Webber (AUS)
7. Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari
8. Fernando Alonso (SPA)
9. Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Williams
10. Nico Hulkenberg (GER)
11. Robert Kubica (POL) Renault
12. Vitaly Petrov (RUS)
14. Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India
15. Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA)
16. Sebastien Buemi (SUI) Scuderia Toro Rosso
17. Jaime Alguersuari (SPA)
18. Jarno Trulli (ITA) Lotus
19. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN)
20. TBA HRT F1 Team
21. Bruno Senna (BRA)
22. Pedro de la Rosa (SPA) BMW Sauber
23. Kamui Kobayashi (JPN)
24. Timo Glock (GER) Virgin
25. Lucas Di Grassi (BRA)
Note: The USF1 team have indicated that they will not be in a position to participate in 2010
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The TBA at HRT is likely to be Karun Chandhok, whose pot of sponsorship money we’d previously placed at Stefan GP. Before we even consider the likely impact of having Virgin and HRT on the same grid, it should be pointed out that yes, HRT is the official name of the team formerly known as Campos Meta. It stands for Hispania Racing Team, and one imagines that those with a working grasp of the English language and associated medical matters want you to remember that.
Autosport are carrying an exclusive interview with USF1 team principal Ken Anderson. Those currently without a working bullshit detector might want to hold their fire on that piece of link-clicking. Try these choice cuts for starters:
“If they don’t allow us to come in 2011 and they shut us down, then I assume they will open the selection process again. And I don’t know who else out there has what we have already done.”
Petrolheadblog GP has no car, drivers or sponsors either. You’ve got us well and truly beaten on the workshop and the equipment, but we’ve played Grand Prix Manager 2 extensively and are confident of being able to overcome that.
“I guess Plan C if they say no, and we have to go to the back of the queue and resubmit a proposal like everybody else… I think the proof is in the pudding. If we have a car sitting here… it would be pretty compelling evidence that we can do it.”
The counterpoint, which is worth giving some consideration to, is that as you read this, USF1 don’t have a car sitting there at all. Perhaps they’ll have one sitting there by May or June, though the object of the exercise was to have one siting there in January just past. You could, were you so inclined, argue that what we currently have is pretty compelling evidence that they can’t do it at all.
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Over in Belgrade, the thoughts of Zoran Stefanovic remain unknown. The FIA have come to the conclusion that there isn’t enough time for Stefan GP to put together a serious attempt at entering the Bahrain Grand Prix, since any freight left to ship really needs to be on its way by close of business on Friday, the team don’t really have any contracted drivers and it’s thought that they were only going to pay for the Toyota chassis upon being granted an entry. No drivers, no car and a week to go before scrutineering starts. It does sound like an effort, but the team have Mr E firmly on their side.
Yes, Bernie Ecclestone believes Stefan might still make it. According to Bernie, the FIA are still carrying out a review of their business and might yet grant the Serbian outfit an entry should they see a sound business plan. What constitutes a sound business plan, particularly in the wake of the USF1 and Campos fiascos, remains unclear. Stay tuned.
