Midseason Report on New F1 Teams
There are four new teams competing in Formula 1 in 2010. This is one team fewer than the number that was anticipated before the season began. The US GP team had announced plans to make a big splash ahead of their entry into the sport. However, it quickly became evident that the US GP team was far behind schedule, which became official when they forfeited their space on the grid just before the beginning of the season.
The FIA recently announced that the US GP team has been permanently banned from competing in Formula 1. Even if they would have made it to the starting grid for the opening race, it’s doubtful that they would have been able to match their lofty goals. Of the four new Formula 1 teams in 2010, three of them have failed to score a point in competition.
The only new Formula 1 team to score points this season is the Mercedes GP entry. This shouldn’t be seen as shocking news as Mercedes is, in many ways, a new team in name only. Mercedes essentially purchased the assets of the Brawn GP team which won the constructors’ championship last season along with the drivers’ championship with Jenson Button. Team principal Russ Brawn stayed with Mercedes and they replaced Button (who left for McLaren) with seven-time former world champion Michael Schumacher.
With Schumacher returning from a three-year retirement and reuniting with Brawn (who guided him to titles at Benetton and Ferrari), hopes were high that Mercedes could contend with the elite teams in Formula 1. However, the results have been underwhelming so far this season. Schumacher has struggled to find his footing and has struggled throughout the season.
In fact, he’s regressed as the season has gone on, finishing outside of the top 10 in his last two races and failing to make the podium through nine races. Making the problems for Schumacher worse is the fact that his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg has outperformed him for most of the season and stands seventh heading into the British Grand Prix while Schumacher is ninth.
If Mercedes is a new team in name only, then Lotus is at the opposite end of the spectrum. Lotus is one of the classic names in Formula 1, winning seven constructors’ championships while employing legendary names like Jim Clark, Graham Hill and Stirling Moss. However, that Lotus team folded in 1994; the new Lotus GP team only shares a name with the fabled Lotus team. One of the team’s primary investors is Proton, the Malaysian automobile company which now owns the Lotus commercial car company.
Although the “new” Lotus team has a long way to go to meet the expectations which come from its name, there have been moments of excitement this season. Both Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli finished the opening race and both finished ahead of either of the drivers from the vaunted Williams team in China. The team has struggled in qualifying, with their best finish being Kovalainen’s 13th in Australia.
The other two new Formula 1 teams have struggled even more than Lotus in the first half of 2010. The HRT team was founded by former Formula 1 driver Adrian Campos but was taken over by Jose Ramon Carabante and former Force India principal Colin Kolles. The team was unable to participate in pre season testing and has struggled. Similar growing pains have plagued the Virgin Racing team. The team has struggled with reliability all season, and came to a shocking realisation after China when they discovered that their fuel tanks were too small. Lucas di Grassi has been the best of the two Virgin Racing cars, finishing 14th in China.
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