The Weekly Grapevine

The New F1 Teams

What is it about the water in Japanese and Chinese Formula One paddocks? A year ago, between the two Asian Grands Prix, news broke of two teams planning to enter the sport. The plans of both, certainly as announced, came to nought: Midland Group ended up buying Eddie Jordan's ailing outfit, whilst Team Dubai F1 has seemingly crept back into the Emirate's desert sands without as much as whimper.

Then, rumours surrounding the same Grands Prix this year suggested that as many as three operations were planning upon entering Formula One: a second team supported by Honda; an outfit fronted by Jean Alesi, allegedly to be funded by the Japanese Direxiv finance house (and GP2 sponsor); and, finally, in Shanghai Bernie Ecclestone confirmed his willingness to act as guarantor for a Middle East-financed team to be run by a former F1 team principal.

For simplicity, the 'Honda' outfit will be named Team A, the Alesi operation, referred to as Team B, and the latest Middle East operation Team C.

But, to recap, last year Midland announced their intention of having a car designed and built by Dallara in preparation for entry in the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship. Work had allegedly commenced on the project, and this column at the time questioned why Midland did not simply purchase Jaguar Racing or Jordan Grand Prix to save themselves depositing the $48m bond as required by the regulations.

Such purchase would also enable the operation to share in television and travel revenues in terms of prevailing Concorde Agreement clauses - presently newcomers are excluded for a period of three years from date of entry - whilst keeping one or other of the struggling teams afloat and their long-suffering personnel in useful employment.

In the end - in mid-January, in fact - Midland did just that, and took over Jordan lock - although Eddie J changed these - stock - despite Jordan's wind tunnel being excluded from the original agreement - and barrel. In May, in an interview with Autosport-Atlas, Jordan/Midland team principal Colin Kolles allowed that the Dallara link was becoming increasingly tenuous, and, whilst the Jordan name made its last appearance on a grid in Shanghai, it seems the 2006 Midland will be a Toyota-powered Jordan in all but name.

As for Team Dubai F1, little has been heard of the operation since the initial announcements. For a while McLaren's Ron Dennis and Mercedes motorsport director Norbert Haug talked up the concept - the original idea had been for TDF1 to run 'old' McLarens out of the company's obsolete, but eminently usable, Woking, Surrey premises - but, given the hammering the instigators of the project received from the media over other Formula One-related activities, there is little wonder the project seems still-born.

TDF1 was, of course, fronted by none other than Jenson Button's former management team, and given the recent issues surrounding the Brits and the various contractual situations instigated by them, the low profile recently adopted by Messrs Byfield and King appears rather sensible. In fact, so low has their profile become that many doubt whether either will ever again be seen working a Formula One paddock.

Bernie Ecclestone, though, has a need to attract as many teams to the sport as possible, and not only for obvious reasons. Of course, the higher the numbers on the grid, the better Formula One's perceived spectacle and value - thus increasing potential revenue from circuit promoters, television broadcasters and trackside advertisers - making enlarged grids an obvious objective for the man who must view the three-quarters of every dollar made by SLEC heading towards the consortium of banks, who own 75% of Formula One's commercial rights via an increasingly convoluted internal arrangement - with not a little chagrin.

There is, in addition, a political incentive for Ecclestone in all this: presently Formula One's power is almost equally split between the confirmed Ecclestonites - Ferrari, Red Bull's two teams, and Jordan/Midland), and, likely sooner than most realise, Williams - on the one hand; with Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association members (Sauber)-BMW, (BAR)-Honda, (McLaren)-Mercedes, Renault and Toyota on the other.

The chances of GPMA gaining membership are slim; in fact, any movement is likely to go the other way. However, should any of the afore-mentioned three potential newcomers enter the sport in the near future, the chances are at least 75/25 that they will subscribe, and sign up, to Ecclestone's vision of F1 2008-2012 style, thus tipping the balance in SLEC's favour. Thus, the easiest way for Ecclestone to maintain his grip on the sport he has made his own and simultaneously ramp up revenues to compensate for his reduced slice of SLEC, is to increase grid sizes.

Increasing revenue via Plan B - extending Formula One's calendar to 20 or more races, with resultant greater income from an increased number of promoters - is already underway.

But, all was quiet on the western front until Formula One moved east, and, suddenly there was talk of up to three newcomers. Of course, such is the secrecy surrounding their identities that, say, Team A and B, as identified, could be one and the same, or, for that matter, A and C could well be inclusive. Or B and C...

Whatever, in the build-up to Suzuka's race, Honda dropped hints that a second team powered by the Big H was a more than remote possibility - herein known as Team A. Cynics suggested it was all a ruse to minimise the backlash in Takuma Sato's home country after BAR-Honda confirmed Button and Rubens Barrichello for 2006, with the latter driver replacing the Japanese in the team.

But, no-one, all from BAR team principal Nick Fry down were adamant the project could fly, and that a serious operation - thought to be Japanese racing car constructor Dome - was behind the effort, which intends running 2005 BAR-based chassis, with the intellectual rights to the design being purchased by the newcomer to enable it to conform with Concorde requirements.

Rumours in Suzuka linked BAR, Honda, Dome and former Japanese F1 racer Aguri Suzuki to the project. Then, come Shanghai, more fuel was added to the rumour mill when it was suggested that Dome representatives were seen sniffing around the former Arrows factory, now owned by IRL team Menard, in Leafield, Oxford.

On Sunday a former Arrows employee, now with Jordan, told this column that the facility is "crying out for F1 tenants; it is absolutely perfect for that purpose", and, according to the source, Menard is willing to sell the historic facility, which once served as base for Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the radio, before serving as base for Sir Ernest Shackleton's Antarctica expeditions.

Whether or not this team, should its Formula One aspirations be realised, would throw its weight behind SLEC or GPMA is unknown. Honda sources indicated that the team would be permitted to act independently, regardless of what engine and technology contracts may be in place, whilst earlier blessing from FIA President Max Mosley, who seems poised to be returned to the post after next weeks 's presidential elections, indicates the team's management won't rock Bernie's Boat. Then again, GPMA may eventually get to them, either via Honda or the projected merits of their proposed series. So, politically, 50/50.

Whilst former Tyrrell, Ferrari, Benetton, Sauber, Prost and Jordan driver Alesi has been regular Formula One paddock guest since swapping to DTM in 2002, the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix winners' visit to Suzuka and his various scheduled meetings with Formula One personnel linked him to suggestions that Japan's Direxiv financial institution, presently sponsor of Alesi protege Olivier Pla in GP2, could be looking at entering the top echelon (Team B).

The team could be a carbon copy of TDF1: Alesi - who is married to a former Japanese TV star, explaining the link - held extended meetings with Dennis and Haug, and there talk centred around the sale of 2005 McLarens. In May this year, Haug suggested that all the building bocks were in place for what would effectively be a McLaren 'B' outfit, and this one could fly as quickly as Team A.

Again, the political scenario is difficult to predict: Dennis and Mercedes are GPMA proponents, whilst Direxiv have links to Ecclestone via the GP2 brand registered to a (non-SLEC) company owned by him. This one, too, could go either way.

There can, though, be no doubts about the political leanings of Team C, for this one, rather shrewdly, could end up with guaranteed backing from Ecclestone himself. Talking to London's Times newspaper, the F1 tsar last week admitted he could guarantee up to £30m of the newcomer's start-up costs. "They have come to see me and it is an interesting idea," he said. "They have serious money and serious intentions, so we should help them if we can."

Again, the project revolves around used cars and kit - but unlike anything found in Auto Trader - and the former team principal referred to by Ecclestone in the interview could be either ex-BAR boss David Richards, who, remember, bought the commercial rights to the World Rally Championship from Ecclestone, or Tom Walkinshaw, who fled Formula One under a cloud, but has rehabilitated himself via his Bathurst-winning Holden Supercar team.

The Scot's former TWR right-hand man, Daniele Audetto, was seen about the Shanghai paddock, whilst Richards has long admitted that a team wholly owned by Prodrive - his duties at BAR were contractual - is on his to-do list. And, where there is smoke in F1 there normally exists a flame or two.

Ecclestone's admission about acting as guarantor have raised the stakes: where before talk arose of this team, Mosley indicated that the $48m returnable bond required from all newcomers by the FIA, could be dropped under certain circumstances. Ecclestone's willingness to guarantee £30m for the team, which works out at almost exactly $48m at present exchange rates, indicates that the bond will be required, with, in this instance, Ecclestone providing the paper. After all, if the newcomers do, indeed, have 'serious money and serious intentions', there would be zero risk to him, all whilst ensuring that a large portion of their funding is not committed to the FIA. And, of course, there would be absolutely no question of their political loyalty.

Finally, there is the question of timing: Fry was adamant that the BAR-Honda backed operation could, with a massive push from all parties, be on the grid next year, whilst a McLaren 'B' team is said to be simply a matter of pushing some silver and black buttons. Too little is know about Team C - assuming it is not Team A or B under a different guise, although there exist sufficient differentiating factors to indicate that Team C is a stand-alone concept - to forecast timing, but, here, Ecclestone's role as guarantor could swing one of the two remaining grid slots in favour of 'C', as a cursory examination of Toyota's entry into F1 proves.

The Japanese giant issued guarantees, then postponed its entry for two years as it regrouped after years of rally and sports car competition, and thus there is little doubt that the FIA would act similarly and reserve a slot for the team for up to two years immediately after it deposits the (Ecclestone's) guarantee. So, assuming all three entities are serious about entering Formula One - and there are, in terms of Concorde, only two vacancies - the order in which they formally apply will seriously impact upon the political landscape. Of the three, one could confidently be said to be firmly in Ecclestone's camp, whilst the other two could go either way.

Assuming Teams A and B join in and align themselves, respectively, with Ecclestone or GPMA, the power split remains as per present; should both side with one faction, that party will hold sway. If, though, Team C enters Formula One in the near future, Ecclestone can call upon at least six votes, and possibly seven - depending upon the sentiments of the second team, whereas GPMA could call upon maximum six votes and likely only five. All this, though, assumes that three interested parties actually exist.

Never were Formula One politics more delicately balanced, and the presidential elections have hardly been touched upon.

The Williams F1 Garage Sale

In July 1993, following two financially disastrous seasons, Eddie Jordan and the team's then-financial director Richard O'Driscoll hit upon the idea of a Garage Sale: to set up a shop over the British Grand Prix weekend, selling bits and bobs of memorabilia to fans. It worked sufficiently well for Jordan to repeat the exercise on a regular basis.

Minardi of course followed suit with an auction last year and a second one this year. But then, in May this year, Ferrari initiated a similar exercise - although, in a move more befitting the financially strained team's upmarket image, they appointed society auctioneers Sotheby's to handle the arrangements - and raised millions from a collection of cars that included one of Michael Schumacher's all-conquering F2004s.

Yes, Ferrari had previously sold off cars to selected aficionados and friends of the brand, but such deals had normally been low-key, with strict conditions attached. One of these vehicles in June rather famously broke in half after its Dutch owner hit a wall during a 'demonstration' race, and was, of course, commandeered by the factory for examination - as permitted by the terms of the sale.

But, in May, virtually anybody with a wad of wedge was welcome to stick a hand in the air. By all accounts the auction went well, and Ferrari seem intent on repeating it on an annual basis.

Now comes news that Williams - in the wake of the loss of BMW and associated sponsors, and set to race with pay-for Cosworths next season - are embarking upon a similar course of action: 20 of the cars in their Reserve Collection will be auctioned in their Grove headquarters on December 14th.

The team are, of course, putting heavy spin on the auction, citing, among other reasons, a shortage of storage space. But, over the past 20 years, no Williams Grand Prix cars have escaped into private hands, indicating that the emotional value and engineering significance take second and third place respectively to their net asset worth.

Previously the company's shareholders, Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head, sold off their private jet and helicopter respectively to fund a second wind tunnel, and the fact that the historic vehicles survived that round of cash-raising is indicative of their value within the company.

Which leads to the question: when do Williams cave in and accept a large bag of gold from Bernie Ecclestone in return for their signature on the as yet undefined post-2008 Concorde Agreement?

After all, Ferrari signed up with Ecclestone in January, and held their auction in May...