[Monster Hesh]

Maybe is just takes way too much effort to create an F1 racing team, from scratch. CFD Design R&D, Calibration, Windtunnels, Composite manufacturing, 3D printing, assembly, logistics. There is a great deal that needs to be devoted for the creation of the car. There is what, just one empty F1 estate in the valley, Manor's? However Haas poached most of the remnants from Caterham and Manor. So its gotta be from the ground up, now that's a hell load of scrilla.

I wondering if the only way we are going to see names is the buyout of existing team. It been alluded to in this past season, quite frequently, that RedBull maybe on their way out. That leaves two fully operational F1 teams ready for the buying and renaming/branding, easy.

Engines is a different story, but Honda didn't paint a good picture did they. Despite what the new regs are going to be, history might repeat itself, newbies will suffer, veterans will dominate. Hopefully they have learnt, and create a concessions system so that abortions have a chance to develop.

Everything seems JIT in F1, so customer teams just would not get the supply of parts. The front running biggest teams struggle to supply themselves, numerous times we saw only car running upgrades because they just couldn't create then quick enough, be it cost or production limitations.

[Jody Barton]

I think you are right about the barrier to entry. F1 has needed customer chassis etc. For a while. Haas are using Dalara to manufacture many of their components I believe. Why not offer a basic shell which new teams could bolt things onto, just to get them onto the grid and started. Then again we saw the issue with HRT and Caterham at the back of the grid and ultimately Manor. I guess that’s why the prospect of Porsche or Toyota moving their vast resources and teams across to F1 are so appealing.

[PapaofGags]

Volkswagen’s Formula 1 go-ahead is imminent.              (hope this isn't April 1st joke)

Although the company are declining to comment, Reuters have reported Volkswagen will give the go-ahead next week for their Audi and Porsche brands to enter F1. 

Reuters have now reported on a story run by Business Insider which quotes Volkswagen sources as saying a decision about Audi and Porsche joining Formula 1 is likely next week.

“We will hopefully be able to communicate our intention to enter into Formula 1 then,” one source is quoted as saying, while another indicated there was a “good chance” of a positive outcome.

Volkswagen declined to comment, say Reuters.

It is also being reported that an Audi offer for McLaren remains on the table for 500 million euros (£421million).

[NeilP]

Be great to get a new team in F1 but I do not want to see McLaren sold at any price.

[PapaofGags]

Rivals pushing to triple Andretti F1 entry fee to $600m.

Formula 1 teams are pushing for a tripling of the $200m anti-dilution fee that an 11th entrant such as Andretti will have to pay in order join the world championship.

Sources suggest that the 10 current teams want the anti-dilution fee to be boosted to at least $600m, with one team principal telling Motorsport.com that it was the lowest figure that has been mentioned, and that it could go higher.

If agreed the new number could force Michael Andretti to reconsider his plans to enter with General Motors brand Cadillac, which are built around the current figure.

Andretti still has the option to buy an existing team, having previously been turned down by Sauber and others.

Intriguingly, the potential entry fee hike comes just as it has emerged that Red Bull’s bosses are considering the future of AlphaTauri, with options included putting it up for sale or retaining it and moving it to the UK.

Andretti is known to have enquired about buying the Italian outfit in the past, and those discussions could now restart.

Red Bull’s price is likely to be well above the potential $600m cost of a new entry, but Andretti would have a good starting point with the Faenza factory and the UK-based aerodynamic department – and would not be compensating its rivals.

The original $200m anti-dilution fee was agreed as part of the current Concorde Agreement, which was signed in August 2020, and which covers the 2021-’25 seasons.

It guarantees a one-off payment of $20m from any new entrant to each of the 10 existing teams.

It was intended to cancel out the potential loss of prize money for the current teams on the basis that a newcomer could have entered as early as 2022, and thus taken a share of the total prize fund for the last four seasons of the Concorde Agreement.