FIA rejects applications for a new Formula1 team
Formula One’s governing body, FIA, has rejected applications from all the new teams for the next F1 season. There was speculation that a 13th team would be added to the F1 circuit for the 2011 season, but FIA, after its meeting in Paris, said that no further teams would be added next year.
The decision means that for now, former F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve will not be able to make a comeback to F1 with his own team.
After the meeting, FIA issued an official press release which stated that “none of the applicant teams meet the criteria of an F1 team and hence cannot be granted an entry next season”.
Another big decision made in the meeting was that a record 20th race would be added in the new season, which is likely to take place in India. However, it will be based on the approval of FIA authorities when they make a final inspection of the circuit. The new race circuit in India is being built outside Delhi and is currently under construction.
There were some other changes made to the calendar next year: Brazil would be the last race of the season instead of Abu Dhabi that would take place on 27th of November, 2011.
2011 will be the record longest F1 season, and will start in Bahrain on the 13th of March. It will then move to Australia and from there to Malaysia and later China.
Turkey would next year be the first European race instead of Spain and would take place on the 8th of May. The Spanish Grand Prix would be held 2 weeks after that.
The Silverstone track in England would be the halfway point of the season, and the race would be held on 10th of July.
The F1 calendar does include certain breaks in the season for teams to recuperate, but also has back-to-back races in the middle of the season. Next season, Malaysia and China would be clubbed together in the initial stages of the season, followed by the Spain and Monaco Grands Prix in Europe. Germany and Hungary would also be back-to-back and finally, the Japan Grand Prix and the Korean race would also have no breaks between them.
The 13th team spot in the F1 circuit arose when US F1 team was not accepted in the 2010 season just before the start.
There were a number of teams that had applied for the all-important 13th spot on the circuit. Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve was hoping to make a comeback to the sport and was all set to introduce his own team; he was also expected to be driving one of his cars in his team. Villeneuve was in partnership with former GP-2 team Durango. Another candidate for the new F1 team was Spanish outfit Epsilon Euskadi.
The Spain-based team was rejected earlier at the beginning of the 2009 season, when Manor Motorsport (which later went on to be named Virgin F1) and Campos Meta (which later became Hispania) and US F1 were approved by FIA.
Lotus was the 3rd new team in F1 this season; they were given a slot after Toyota decided to pull out of the sport due to financial constraints.
None of the new teams this season have managed to score a single point this season, and have not been able to come close to the seasoned teams on the circuit.
After the meeting in Paris, further announcements were made that certain staff members of each team would have to be licensed by FIA, and any crew members not officially licensed by the authorities would not be able to take part in the race.
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