Grapevine: Carlin Set to Run Midland F1 Team

British Formula Three team boss Trevor Carlin will run the Russian-backed Midland F1 team planned for 2006, Britain's weekly Autosport magazine reported on Thursday.

Although a spokeswoman for Midland, whose entry was announced last weekend, could not confirm what she called 'very big speculation', Carlin was quoted as saying he would take care of the operations side in England.

"I've got to start building a team now to be ready to run in testing from the middle of next year," he said. "It's very rare to get the opportunity to go in at the beginning and do it the way you want to do it. I was never going to land a senior management role at Williams or McLaren."

Midland F1 is the brainchild of Russian-born Canadian businessman Alex Shnaider, 36, whose privately-owned Midland Group operates mainly in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Canada and China.

The team have yet to name an engine supplier or likely drivers but the car will be built in Italy by Dallara, regular winners of the Indy 500 in America in recent years.

Carlin won the British F3 championship in 2001 with Japan's Takuma Sato, now at BAR, who was partnered then by BAR's British test driver Anthony Davidson. He also runs teams in the junior British Formula BMW series and World Series by Nissan.

"Mr Shnaider is great and very passionate about the sport and the business will be run very efficiently," Carlin was quoted as saying.

"I'll spend the money as if it's my own and we'll cut out the excess that's been in F1 for the past 10 years. How many other F1 bosses do you find washing wheels?," he added.