Dallara Glad to be Back in Formula One

Italian constructor Gian Paolo Dallara is delighted his company will be back in Formula One when the new Midland F1 team debut in the 2006 season.

The Parma-based company, which made its Formula One debut in 1988 before leaving the sport in 1992, will build the cars for the new team, created by Alex Shnaider, a naturalised Canadian citizen born in St Petersburg, owner of the Midland Group.

"I'm glad to go back to F1," Dallara told Autosprint magazine. "For Dallara it's an opportunity to grow, which will benefit all the other projects we're involved in, because the technical know-how will deepen and the advantages will have positive repercussions.

"We're back in F1 because there are the guarantees to face this challenge in the best way, without compromising other commitments. We don't want to do what BAR and Reynard did: everything is calculated for the available resources, there is no danger of letting things get out of hand.

"There is no desire of revenge with going back to F1. Our competitors are good, they have more experience and more resources. Our objective, however, is to be the best among the teams using the same engines."

Dallara said another building, which will be dedicated to the F1 programme, is currently under construction behind the company's Varano factory. Fifty new jobs will be created thanks to the new project, which Dallara said had been running for two months now.

"In September 2005 we'll be on track with the final car, followed by the normal development in winter testing," he said.

Dallara also revealed the company was interested in hiring Gary Anderson, the man who helped team principal Eddie Jordan set up his Grand Prix team in 1991 and, as chief designer and technical director, was a key figure over an eight-year period.

"Gary Anderson is an experienced person, with good technical sense," Dallara said. "We are interested in having him, but he would hold a position of consultant. We are still looking for a manager of the project, and there are lots of contacts.

"In the new structure the managers of each key sector, that is aerodynamics, composites, transmission, will be technicians with the most recent experience in F1."

The Italian race car builder, whose Formula One team scored 15 points in 78 Grands Prix, said Midland F1 had initially considered using Cosworth engines for their debut season, but Ford's announcement that the company has been put up for sale has changed plans.

"At the moment we are defining the project with standard engine dimensions, because our reference was initially the Cosworth engine," Dallara said. "Now Ford's decision has mixed things around a bit."

The team have yet to decide on drivers, too, but Dallara said his company will not be involved in the decision.

"This is a choice within Midland's competence, but I'd like a different route than what's common these days. I'd have two young, determined drivers racing, while for testing I'd choose an experienced driver," Dallara added. "It seems more reasonable to me."