FIA leaves door open to teams (From The Oxford Times)

Prodrive and Brabham not on 2010 list of F1 teams

11:30am Friday 12th June 2009 in Sport

The FIA has left the door open to five of the current Formula One teams to enter the sport for next year.

McLaren, Renault, Toyota, BMW Sauber and Brawn GP have been named on the entry list for 2010, albeit they now have a week to submit an unconditional entry.

Motor sport's world governing body has confirmed that Manor Grand Prix, Campos Grand Prix and Team US F1 are the three new teams on the grid from next season.

Manor is based at two sites in Bicester and in Sheffield and has Nick Wirth, one time owner of the Simtek F1 team, as its technical director.

Ferrari have been given an entry, but that could now prompt a legal battle as they, along with the other seven members of the Formula One Teams' Association, initially submitted conditional entries.

Red Bull Racing and sister team Toro Rosso have also been handed an entry by the FIA, who will argue they and Ferrari are contractually obliged to be involved.

However, Ferrari have already argued the FIA invalidated a contract agreed in 2005 as president Max Mosley failed to keep his side of the deal by not consulting with the teams over the rule changes.

Williams, based at Grove, and Force India have places on the 2010 grid, although that is no surprise as they opted to split from FOTA and submit conditional entries due to binding contracts of their own.

Frank Williams, team principal of the AT&T Williams team, said: "2010 will be my 42nd consecutive season in Formula One. We are already designing the main elements of next year's FW32 which will build on the useful step forward taken with the FW31."

The battle with Ferrari could run throughout the summer, but as far as McLaren, Renault, Toyota, BMW Sauber and Brawn GP are concerned, they now have seven days to decide which way to go.

If they fail to submit a conditional entry, the FIA will return to the pool of potential new entrants as they are determined to have a 26-car grid in place for next year.

At present, further due diligence is taking place on the other possible entries should further positions become available.

Prodrive, of Banbury, is not on the list and chairman David Richards said the team was "naturally disappointed" at the news.

He said: "We believe we have the resources and set-up to be competitive in Formula One and would make a positive contribution to the sport.

“We will wait to see how things develop in the next week, up to the June 19 deadline set by the FIA and we remain prepared and ready to implement our plans should the circumstances allow.

"As we have seen before, there are quite often many twists and turns in Formula One.

“However, this weekend our attention is one hundred per cent focused on our Aston Martin team at Le Mans.

"For the first time we are challenging for outright victory with a three-car line-up, following two consecutive GT1 class wins, on the 50th anniversary of Aston Martin’s historic 1959 win at the circuit de La Sarthe."

The FIA statement said:

Following the completion of the applications process for teams to compete in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, the following teams have been confirmed.

• TEAM / CONSTRUCTOR
• SCUDERIA FERRARI MARLBORO / FERRARI
• SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO / STR TBA
• RED BULL RACING / RBR RENAULT
• AT&T WILLIAMS / WILLIAMS TOYOTA
• FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM / FORCE INDIA MERCEDES
• CAMPOS GRAND PRIX / CAMPOS COSWORTH
• MANOR GRAND PRIX / MANOR COSWORTH
• TEAM US F1 / TEAM US F1 COSWORTH
• VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES* / McLAREN MERCEDES
• BMW SAUBER F1 TEAM* / BMW SAUBER
• RENAULT F1 TEAM* / RENAULT
• PANASONIC TOYOTA RACING* / TOYOTA
• BRAWN GP FORMULA ONE TEAM* / BRAWN TBA
• *These five teams have submitted conditional entries.The FIA has invited them to lift those conditions following further discussions to be concluded not later than close of business on Friday June 19, 2009.