FIA Announce New Teams for 2010

The long awaited list of entrants for the 2010 FIA Formula 1 World Championship has been announced today but as the budget cap row continues to simmer (or should that be boil?) nothing can be said to be cut and dried by a long chalk.

THE CURRENT TEAMS

The ten current F1 teams have been granted spots on the 2010 grid.

HOWEVER...... five of those teams have been given a week to drop their conditions or lose their slots. A further three are objecting to being entered!

Of the current teams, only Williams and Force India appear to be 100% confirmed for 2010 as they broke away from FOTA and submitted unconditional entries before the May deadline.

Red Bull, Ferrari and Toro Rosso are the three teams objecting to their entry but the FIA insists they are contractually committed to compete in 2010.

Ferrari has already intimated they may challenge this in the courts and again stated they will not participate in the Championship next year unless their conditions are met.

Brawn, McLaren, Renault, Toyota and BMW Sauber have been granted provisional entries on the basis they drop their conditions by the 19th June. If they fail to do so they face being excluded from the grid.

Due to the proposed FIA budget cap, numerous new teams including Lola, Prodrive, Team Lotus etc are waiting in the wings to fill any vacancies.

NEW TEAMS ON THE GRID

The FIA has announced the three news teams competing next year will be -

Campos Grand Prix

This team is owned by Spaniard Adrian Campos, a former Minardi driver who later became manager to one Fernando Alonso. Campos currently run in GP 2 and were crowned champions in 2008.

Their car will be designed by Dallara and powered by Cosworth who are making a return to Formula 1.

It would appear that Ecclestone wants to keep the F1 interest in Spain alive now that Alonso is no longer in a front running car.

This can be the only reason a team like this got in ahead of teams with the racing pedigree of Lola or Prodrive.

Click here to view the team web site

Team US F1

This team was hotly tipped to join the series as it is known that Ecclestone is desparate to get a foothold in the USA and was heavily backing their bid.

The team will be run by Ken Anderson (ex Ligier) and Peter Windsor (ex Williams) and based in North Carolina. The car will be powered by Cosworth.

Team US F1 have stated they will run at least one American driver but L2F thinks it is likely to be an all American set up.

Several driver names have been put in the frame including Danica Patrick and Scott Speed.

Landing a (potentially) front running female driver like Patrick would be an excellent marketing opportunity and may also help in their stated goal of popularising F1 in the States.

Scott Speed, although undoubtedly cheaper than Danica Patrick, would probably be a liability given his form and team problems at Red Bull.

Manor GP (Manor Motorsports)

This was the surprise of the bunch.

Manor Motorsports , owned by John Booth is a successful team in the F3 Euroseries based in Sheffield.

The car will also run a Cosworth engine.

Why they have been included over more prestigious contenders remains to be seen. They obviously must have said the right things to Ecclestone!

Castroneves Takes Third Indy 500 Victory

Team Penske driver Helio Catroneves has taken his third career Indy 500 victory after starting from pole and leading the race for sixty six laps.

An excellent second place went to Brit Dan Wheldon who had started from a lowly 18th on the grid. Third place on the podium went to Danica Patrick.

Wonder how long it will be before we see a female driver in F1? Maybe if the much vaunted US F1 team joins the circus they will give Patrick or maybe Sarah Fisher a run out. It would be an interesting PR/media angle if nothing else....

Scot Dario Franchitti finished in 7th place dropping back from his original P3 qualifying position.

Rookie driver, Mike Conway from Kent aquitted himself well in his first Indy 500 race going the full distance, finishing in 18th place after starting from 27th on the grid and also overcoming injuries sustained in the pre-race build up.

Former F1 driver Justin Wilson crashed out on lap 160 and was classified in 23rd place.

For full race results please click here.

The 2010 Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for 30th May.

Indy 500 Starting Grid

The starting line up for the Indianapolis 500 has been settled.

As reported previously on this blog, Scot Dario Franchitti has qualified in P3 for this Sunday's Indy 500. Other qualifiers of interest to British fans are former F1 driver Justin Wilson in P15, Dan Wheldon in P18 and youngster Mike Conway in P27.

Conway did well to qualify following an accident at an earlier Indy 500 practice session.

Highest female qualifier is Danica Patrick in P10.

For full details of the starting grid please click here

Some food for thought for Ecclestone and Co..... starting prices for tickets at the Indy 500 are only US $ 20!

Due to Ecclestone's insatiable greed for ever bigger profits, ticket prices in Formula 1 are getting out of the reach of the average hard working motor sports fan.

Imagine how many new fans could be attracted to the sport if gate prices at the British Grand Prix started at onbly £ 20 or £ 30?