USF1 dead, FIA ponders green light for Stefan - Ecclestone

USF1's dream is definitely over, after the FIA reportedly decided to reject the American team's request to freeze its official entry until 2011.

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reports that the governing body is now deciding whether or not to immediately pass the final team slot to Stefan GP mere days before the season begins in Bahrain.

Bernie Ecclestone said passing in the entry for an official tender process so close to the Bahrain deadline makes "little sense".

"As far I know, Stefan GP could race in Bahrain," said the F1 chief executive. "Yet you should not believe everything you hear because we don't want the opposite to come true.

"The FIA will conduct a business review, and if positive, Stefan GP might get off the line in Bahrain," Ecclestone, 79, added.

The Briton scoffed at reports that Stefan's hopes also rest with the unanimous agreement of all the other teams.

"This has nothing to do with the others," said Ecclestone. "It is entirely up to the FIA to say yes or no."

Kazuki Nakajima is lined up to drive one of Stefan's Toyota-powered 2010 cars, and Ecclestone said "it would be great" if Jacques Villeneuve gets the green light to occupy the sister seat.

With Peter Windsor believed to have already departed USF1, team principal Ken Anderson told BBC Sport on Wednesday that "we are done" in the event that the FIA rejects his request to freeze the entry until 2011.

The F1 world is now waiting on the final entry list to be published, and a FIA spokesman said on Wednesday a statement will be made "soon".

Source: GMM

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Aleksi

Haha.. Too bad for them. That's what you get when you don't work hard enough. Let's hope that the Stefan GP team gets their place. Although the new teams are probably going to be very slow, it's interesting to see which one is the fastest of them.

March 3, 2010 6:03 pm

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Bristol411S3

Even if it goes to tender we know no-one else is ready so is unlikely to bid. It's got to Stefan's for the taking. They've done no testing though. But at least it means the Lotuses won't be last.

March 3, 2010 6:56 pm

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ifudge

They should implement new rules that no teams can participate in the Championship without first attending pre-season testing. The FIA harp on about safety. How safe can it be to go racing Grand Prix cars which haven't been tested? It's a danger to themselves and to those around them. It's an extremely dangerous situation.

March 3, 2010 8:21 pm

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Aleksi

Why do you think it is dangerous? All the cars go through FIA (crash) tests to confirm that they are strong and safe enough.

March 4, 2010 12:12 am

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ifudge

Crash testing is one thing. It's mostly for the chassis and safety cell. Cars are exposed to different conditions in track testing. The full forces of nature and machine are in effect when a car is going at speed. Any thing coming off a car can be extremely dangerous, and this is best put to the test on a track. A wing flying off a car or a nut or spring can be fatal. Just ask Felipe Massa. The cars reliability won't have been tested and its speed may be significantly slower which is also hugely dangerous. You'll have inexperienced drivers learning to pilot their cars in a race with 23 other cars all over the track and with all of the pressures of race conditions instead of a more controlled environment with much less traffic and distractions.

March 4, 2010 12:51 am

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Aleksi

Honda developed and tested the last season's Brawn car for 1? years. And still the spring came off. Accidents happen, no matter how prepared the teams are.

March 4, 2010 1:02 pm

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sideskraper

Stefan GP haven't been given an entry. Nor should they. There were only going to be 13 teams on the grid as a concession for Sauber. Stefan GP have just been trying to bully their way onto the grid from day dot. I for one am happy with this result. ifudge, I believe your fears are unfounded. As I'm sure most people would believe. The FIA and FOM will more likely do everything in their power to make sure that the disparity between teams is reduced than punishing the new teams who have obviously had a huge struggle to get to where they are now. They're putting a car on the grid 7 months after signing the concorde agreement. That's a huge achievement in itself, and the first half of the season they'll make up a lot of the ground they need to really get amongst the pack.

March 3, 2010 10:27 pm

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ifudge

I'm not against new teams entering the Championship at all. I'm all for it and have a huge respect for them. But if they're going to enter F1 they have to be prepared and ready. This isn't the little league. This is the pinnacle of motorsport. My concerns are that the cars must be track tested and proven to be reliable and not a potential cause for accident or injury, and to allow new drivers time to familiarise themselves in the cars as I outlined above in response to Aleksi.

March 4, 2010 12:59 am

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ffrgtm

@ifudge I appreciate that you're thinking like an engineer, but these aren't stock cars. With the combination of Kinematics and Compliance rigs, 7 post rigs, and computer simulation, these guys already know what setup they'll be running when they arrive. F1 cars do not have adjustable dampers for a reason. Would you expect one of these teams to engineer an airframe and expect them to crash or parts to fly off during the shakedown flight? The precision in this sport is similar if not higher than most of the aerospace sector.

March 4, 2010 2:22 am

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sideskraper

ffrgtm is bang on the money. They're not slapping together a car and hoping the parts bolt together correctly. Everything is tested, simulated, and setup. I suspect just about the only similar level of engineering, precision manufacturing, and fluid dynamics work occurring is in the boats used for the recent America's Cup regatta (and previously with the IACC boats). ifudge, I do agree with your comment on driver familiarisation to a certain extent. There need to be more test days for drivers.

March 4, 2010 3:25 am

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astroturf777

why are they so scared of testing if the development of cars is so restricted? wouldnt testing just help the drivers do better?

March 4, 2010 6:55 am

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sideskraper

For example some teams like (but not limited to) Force India and Red Bull skipped the first week of testing to spend more time in the design/engineering and subsequently, manufacture of their cars. Other teams like USF1 and Campos simply did not have a car to test and develop at the time of the test sessions. Whatever the reason is for not having a car ready to test, it's not due to being "scared of testing". Look at Lotus and Virgin, both will be down the tail end of the grid for much of the year but they have gone out and utilised test sessions to get real world data on the performance of their cars. This data will enter the development feedback loop. What they took away from the sessions will be more valuable for the engineers than most of the past 7 months they spent developing the basic car. But most of what they learnt during the testing sessions would have been apparent to them within 4 laps of hitting the circuit on the Friday practice before Bahrain.

March 4, 2010 11:49 am

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