Campos Meta future secured

The Campos Meta team has been saved. The team has announced that Jose Ramon Carabante has become the majority shareholder.

The deal will ensure that Campos will make it onto the grid for the first Grand Prix of the new season. Carabante has stated that the team will continue to be based in Spain and that founder Adrian Campos will remain with the team in some capacity. However former Jordan, Midland and Force India team principal has now been appointed to a similar position within Campos. It is clear that Bernie Eccelstone was instrumental in brokering this deal; Carabante thanked Eccelstone in a statement to announce the changes within the team.

Rookie Bruno Senna is the only driver that has been signed by Campos at this time and they now have only two weeks to sign a second driver and ready their cars for their Grand Prix debut.

The effect of the change in refueling regulations

The most significant sporting regulation change will be the banning of mid race refuelling. With the removal of refuelling the fundamental character of races will change immensely.  Refuelling has been a part of Formula 1 since 1994 and its return heralded a period where races became flat out sprints between pit stops. As a result it is easy to see why the FIA decided that the practice of refuelling has been one of the major obstacles in allowing for overtaking on the track.

By removing this element we will now see significant changes in the tactical aspects of Formula 1. The drivers obviously have to start the race with enough fuel to make it to the finish of the race; therefore cars will be very heavy on the start line for races. The cars will get significantly faster as the race progresses fuel is burnt off, in the past the main factor controlling the speed of an F1 car has been the condition of the tyres because a car would invariably have only 50-80g of fuel to allow for up to half a race distance. Now though with drivers forced to have a fuel load of up to 180kg of fuel from the start the main factor controlling speed is the sheer weight of fuel in the car. The more fuel is burned the faster the car will get even when tyre wear is taken into account.

In the past, a driver made a pitstop and took on fuel and change tyres. Back on the track, he would lose time because the fresh tyres would not be able to overcome the weight penalty of the heavy fuel load. In those circumstances it was advantageous to pit later than your rival, however out refuelling the driver who pits earlier will have the advantage due to having the fresher tyres and being able to exploit them while their rival is still on track with old rubber and a similar fuel load. This will see drivers pitting earlier than expected so as to be ahead of a rival after the pitstops are made.

To see how this new regulation might lead to more exciting races consider the following scenario where two drivers are fighting for the win and the lead driver decides that they will pit early so as to maintain the lead after the pits. Normally the driver would make their stop at one and two thirds distance, i.e. laps 20 and 40 of a 60 lap race. However to ensure he maintains the lead the driver pits on lap 16. This change in strategy will allow him to stay ahead but will have repercussions later on in the race. The next stop was scheduled for lap 40; can the tyres now go that long? The driver must now decide whether to drive conservatively until their next stop or continue pressing hard and pit out of sequence again? The team make the decision to stop the driver a few laps early again and pit him on lap 34. He now has 26 laps left to nurse his car to the end of the race having done no stint longer than 18 laps while his rival will have pitted on schedule and will have tyres much more suitable for the final stint. Can the lead driver hold off the hard charger with fresh rubber? This will be a familiar sight as races come to a close this season!

Who's to blame for the uncertainty surrounding the new teams in Formula 1?

With the new Formula 1 season almost upon us it is incredible that we still do not know who will take to the grid for the season opener. This season there is an influx of new teams that have swelled the grid to thirteen teams. The new teams are Virgin Racing, Lotus, Campos-Meta and USF1. The later two’s participation is in serious doubts due to financial difficulties. Both are struggling to raise the necessary capital for a full season of racing. Who is to blame for this situation? It’s very easy to say Peter Windsor bit off more than he could chew when he set up a Formula 1 team in Charlotte, North Carolina or that Adrian Campos should have known better than to enter the tendering process with precious few sponsors. But the real reason that these teams are struggling to make the grid has been overlooked by many and it is actually the fault of motorsport’s governing body, the FIA.

When the FIA decided to open its books for new entrants into Formula 1 last summer, then FIA President Max Mosley said that there would be a budget cap of $40 million per team. This decision was taken in order to make it easier for new teams to raise the capital required to enter Formula 1. After the tendering period was over and the new entrants announced, the FIA made a statement confirming that the budget cap would not be implemented and that there would be no restrictions on spending for teams. This left the new teams in a dilemma. Do they continue as planned with the budgets in place or do they look for outside investors to come on board and help finance the operation?

Manor Grand Prix was one of the new teams chosen to enter Formula 1 but when their owner, John Booth, discovered that the budget cap was not to be implemented, he immediately looked to find investors for his team. He found one in Richard Branson and sold his team to Branson’s Virgin group, renaming the team Virgin Racing. With this deal in place the team’s position on the grid was secured and they could concentrate on the development of the car.  

The Lotus team was founded with the support of the Malaysian government and many investors from that area including Proton and Tony Fernandez, owner of Air Asia.  As a result raising the increased budget hasn’t been a big problem for this team.

That leaves Campos and USF1.

Campos have struggled with funding and Bernie Eccelstone has said at various times that he doubts whether the team will be able to find the budget to go racing. The team has an agreement with the chassis constructor Dallara. However Adrian Campos has been quoted as saying that they are struggling to make payments to Dallara, “Sometimes we pay the instalment of €7 million to Dallara and sometimes we don’t have the money to make the payment.” At this stage for the team to be struggling to make payments on their chassis means that it is highly unlikely that they will be in Formula 1 long term.

USF1 is in a somewhat similar situation to Campos. The team was founded with the aim of making Formula 1 relevant in America. The team planned to do this by basing the majority of their activities in the US and making the team accessible to fans of the sport. At first it seemed that they were on a good footing financially due to the investments made by YouTube founder Chad Hurley and other key parties. Again these investors became involved when the team said that there would be budget caps in place and as a result their investments would not be as large as would otherwise be the case. When the budget caps were not ratified by the FIA Windsor and USF1 had to go back to their investors and make a case for increased investment. Formula 1 does not have a significant television market share in America and as a result it is quite easy to see why Hurley and the other investors have baulked at an increase in financial support. If the team was based in Europe and had pursued investment on this side of the Atlantic it is probable that they would have found investment opportunity easier than the situation in which they currently find themselves in.

The FIA’s decision to backtrack on their commitment to budget caps in Formula 1 could directly lead to the demise of two teams before they even get to the starting grid. Max Mosley initially planned to implement the budget caps to end his time as President of the FIA on a high note with new investors and new teams entering the pinnacle of motorsport. Instead he has left with his reputation in some disarray after poor management of the sport and his personal life. The last three years of his term in office were marred with numerous altercations with teams and manufacturers about the future running of the sport and his sex scandal. There is also a feeling that he used the powers of his office to implement a personal vendetta against individuals within the sport. The budget capping episode will be added to that list and it will become clear over time that Mosley remained in office for one term too many and the improvements that he oversaw in safety will be overshadowed by the controversies in the final years of his presidency.

The McLaren conundrum

World Champion Jenson Button has left his comfortable and familiar confines of the Brawn GP team to move to McLaren and compete directly with Lewis Hamilton. For the first time in Formula 1 history the two most recent world champions are teammates. Button has shown that he feels the need to show the world that he is a deserving world champion and not just a driver in the right car at the right time. He will undoubtedly get the chance to show exactly where he stands in the pecking order of the paddock with this drive.

If all things were equal it’s fair to say that Hamilton would beat Button more often than not, he is undoubtedly the faster driver. But Formula 1 is not as simple as whoever is fastest wins, rather it’s about managing many different elements of performance and this is one area that Button has shown himself to be particularly adept. With the new regulations stipulating that there can be no refuelling during a Grand Prix, a premium will be placed on smooth driving and not wearing out the tyres too fast. A smoother driver may be able to save a pitstop during the race by taking good care of their tyres. This is Jenson Button’s strong suit, he is arguably the smoothest driver in Formula 1 today and he will reap the benefits of his style during the coming season.

Lewis Hamilton on the other hand is one of the most aggressive drivers ever to sit in a race car. He will have to adapt his style to be smoother during races and by doing so save  himself making pitstops or else he will have to drive hard and make up track time to allow for an additional stop for tyres. It will be fascinating to see how Hamilton and his engineers decide on which tactics to adopt this season.

With the new regulations in place it is not too difficult to foresee a situation whereby Hamilton has the edge on Button in qualifying but Jenson performs better in the races and beats his teammate more often than people expect. Still it would be very surprising if at the end of the year we see Button outperforming Hamilton and placing higher in the championship table. Button has gone to McLaren to showcase his ability and to show that he is not afraid to be compared to the driver generally felt to be the fastest in the sport. It’s a very brave and unprecedented move by Button; to leave the team that helped him win his world title with and move to another with a top flight driver.

This contest looks sure to captivate fans of the sport throughout the season.

Michael Schumacher's return

An interesting by-product of Jenson Button moving to McLaren has been the return of Michael Schumacher, the sport’s most successful driver of all time. The Brawn team did not expect to be in a position to sign Schumacher and probably believed that Button would stay with the team. Brawn viewed it that the McLaren offer and negotiations were a ploy by Button’s management to get a more competitive financial offer from Brawn. As it was Button decided to move to McLaren and test himself against Hamilton and Brawn was forced to look for a new driver.

To illustrate just how sure Ross Brawn felt about Button staying can be seen in Brawn’s decision to allow Rubens Barrichello to move to Williams last summer. Ross Brawn has always preached continuity in the driver department of all teams he was with, ensuring least one driver would be kept on for the next season. When Barrichello was involved in his negotiations with the Williams team he was pushing Button very hard on the track and in the championship. With that in mind it is very hard to see why Ross Brawn would have allowed the Brazilian to leave unless he felt very secure that Jenson Button would remain with the team for 2010.

The signing of Nico Rosberg was completed at the same time as Barrichello’s deal with Williams and seemed to complete the Brawn team drivers’ line-up alongside Button. Once Button decided that he was going to leave the team to drive for McLaren in order to prove himself, an opening was created for another driver. In the mean time Mercedes had bought Brawn GP and they immediately looked for Schumacher to be their lead driver. There are question marks over the health of the German after he had to abort his return with Ferrari in place of Massa after injuries sustained in an earlier motorcycle accident had not healed fully. Schumacher made monumental efforts to return to the sport in 2009 and it is clear that he is still as determined as ever to succeed. Prior to signing with the team Schumacher was passed fully fit and ready to return to Formula 1. He will still have the speed to be a race winner and with a three year deal in his pocket he will undoubtedly look to earn another world title and move past 100 career wins in Formula 1.

From the team’s perspective Mercedes brought Schumacher out of retirement in an attempt to win a world constructor’s title for the first time since the 1955 season, when Juan Manuel Fangio also won the world driver’s championship driving for the marque. Can the team achieve what Brawn GP did in 2009 when they won both driver’s and constructor’s championships? With Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg driving for the team they have arguably a stronger driver line-up than last season. The team also has stability in its technical ranks which it lacked last season, after a year of upheaval when redundancies were required to allow the team to stay afloat. The team has spent a year determining how best to utilise their development resources throughout the season and arguably are in a very strong position to retain their titles.

Can Schumacher return to his former form quickly enough to win a world title at 41 years of age? It’s tough to rule anything out with a driver as successful as Schumacher, he will undoubtedly still have the sheer speed that he brought to the table to become the most dominant driver in Formula 1 history, but can he bring the same drive and desire that made him and his teams so successful? With Ross Brawn in charge of Mercedes just as he has been for almost all of his grand prix victories the smart money is on Schumacher’s return being successful.