F1 2010 and the New Teams

The grid for 2010 is still not settled albeit there are now entries from the existing teams in 2009. McLaren, BMW Sauber, Renault, Toyota and Brawn have entered on mass as FOTA (Formula One Team Association) but the entries are subject to them lifting conditions they placed on their entries by next Friday, June 19. What those conditions are is for Max Mosley and FOTA to know.

Williams, Force India and Ferrari are not a part of that and their entries are secure. Williams have had their membership of FOTA recinded until final agreement has been reached between FOTA and F1 but I haven't heard that about Force India or Ferrari!

So, after a lot of speculation we now know we have 3 new teams on the grid for 2010 and they are Campos Grand Prix, Team US F1 and Manor F1. Accepting the current 20 cars are on the grid that will give us a full 26 car grid for 2010 and should introduce some interesting racing.

No one is sure what the full regs will be but maybe we will know after 19 June. The new teams in brief.

Manor F1 Grand Prix. Former single seater champion, John Booth established Manor in 1990 when he decided to form his own team. Their successes include 171 Race wins and 19 Championship titles in formulae such as Formula Renault and the F3 Euroseries.

Based in the UK they have 2 sites, one in Sheffield and the other in Bicester. Its technical innovation is characterised by the fact that the race cars are designed, tested and refined entirely in the digital domain using the processes originally developed by Wirth Research Limited (WRL).

As Technical Director of Manor Grand Prix Racing, Nick Wirth founded WRL (Wirth Research Limited) in 2003, a company specialising in research, development and manufacturing in the high technology sector. Their designs won both the 2004/5 Indy Racing League (IRL) championships as well as being instrumental in producing winning designs in the American Le Mans series.

Nick Wirth has an impeccable background initially with March, Simtek F1 and Chief Designed for the Benetton F1 team. To compete in 2010 an engine deal has been agreed with Cosworth and it will be great to see them back on the grid.

Campos Grand Prix. Launched in 1998 Campos was launched in 1998 by ex-Formula One driver Adrián Campos. Campos has won six driver championships, five team championships and currently holds the GP2 Series 2008 title.

Their HQ is in Madrid where the marketing and admin are run. The technical centre is based at Campos Racing’s current headquarters in Valencia, 25km from the Ricardo Tormo race track.

As part of its application to compete in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, Campos has also agreed an engine supply deal with Cosworth and technical partnerships with Dallara Automobili and Xtrac.

Team US F1. With 30 years of motor sport experience, team Principal Ken Anderson including designing and constructing multiple Indy 500 and IndyCar Series-winning race cars. This is a real departure for F1 bringing an American Team into F1 as it has been proved Indy 500 and the Indy car series are a different ball park to F1.

Fellow team director Peter Windsor is known to us all having worked in F1 for over 35 years as team manager for Williams-Renault team, manager for Ferrari’s F1 chassis and suspension departments and as a consultant for F1 drivers Nigel Mansell and Carlos Reutemann.

As part of its application to compete in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, US F1 has agreed an engine supply deal with Cosworth.

Cosworth. I don't think Cosworth need any introduction to we petrol heads after 50 years in engine design for most racing teams at one time or another throughout the world. It is a name synonymous with motor racing and has been missed from the recent grids. All the new teams to F1 have opted to use Cosworth engines and I have no doubt the parterships will flourish.

I am sure we all wish the new teams every success. One has to congratulate Max Mosley on his management of this process and hopefully pre Silverstone all will be known about 2010 and beyond.