Status has eye on F1 future

Status ran the title-winning A1 Team Ireland in the most recent A1GP championship, and is a week away from taking delivery of its first GP3 chassis ahead of the inaugural season for the new GP2 feeder series. But speaking on the stage at AUTOSPORT International, team principal Simon Cayzer said that Formula 1 also figured in the team's plans.

"One of our shareholders is Teddy Yip Jr, the son of Teddy Yip who had Theodore Racing, the F1 team in the 1970s and 1980s, so I am not going to say no [to F1]," Cayzer said.

"I think our team is ambitious, we want to expand very quickly. I wouldn't say that we wouldn't look at it."

His ambition was echoed by Status technical director Gary Anderson, who previously designed F1 cars for teams including Jordan, Stewart and Jaguar.

"The team is very ambitious, and the thing is, why not?" Anderson said. "If you look at the new teams that are coming into Formula 1 now, they're going to get a rude awakening, because this is the time when you have to sign a lot of cheques and if you have a lot of money behind you then that's OK, you can compete in Formula 1.

"But I think in the next few years, you're going to see it being tidied up. I wouldn't say it is going to be cheaper, but I think it is going to be tidied up so that there is not so much waste. So there is an opportunity for a team, and building it up through GP3, why not?"