Prodrive confirmed as 12th F1 team

[iGav]

Unsurprising really as the FIA say...

Prodrive was chosen (by a fax vote of the World Motor Sport Council) because it had “the best combination of financial backing, technical capability and motorsport experience” and because of Richards’ pedigree as a former team principal of Benetton and BAR-Honda.

It'll be good to see Dave Richards back in the pits, I still think BAR-Honda made a terrible mistake sacking him after Buttongate I, with Buttongate II proving it wasn't really Richards fault in the first place.

Prodrive have a history of being highly successful with their Subaru WRC effort, and hopefully this will translate into F1 success too.

Rinky dink link

 

[bartelby]

It's a shame they're not putting their road car into production.
But I have a feeling it'd steal all the Impreza market.

 

[MacRy]

It's a shame that Paul Stoddart won't be back around though. I know that his team were ***** but he is such a character and brings a bit of normality to the grid.

 

[iTwitch]

Paul Stoddart, you're kidding? Wasn't he doing the majority of whining about cost?

I just hope the new team is competitive and Super A gets it together. Backmarkers not needed.

 

[MacRy]

Paul Stoddart, you're kidding? Wasn't he doing the majority of whining about cost?

I just hope the new team is competitive and Super A gets it together. Backmarkers not needed.

Well he would whine about costs considering he had about twenty three quid a year to work on whereas companies like Toyota are throwing £100,000,000 a year at it. That is just an obscene amount of money.

Of course you need backmarkers. It just wouldn't be the same without the likes of Ide crashing around at the back.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

As soon as I Prodrive on the list of applicants I knew they would be a trong contender. Besides their WRC cars they've built some pretty spiffy Ferraris for LeMans GTS racing...

As for backmarkers, somebody has to be last, right? Ide is not long for F1 IMO, I would not be at all surprised if Montagny ends up taking the second driver's spot to finish the season.

 

[Counterfit]

This is awesome news. And remember, Ross Brawn used to head up Prodrive. I can definitely see them at the sharp end of the grid.

 

[iTwitch]

Backmarkers - Of course there's always going to be someone running last, but there should be competition at the back. A desire to advance, hopefully Super A will advance once they get a proper car? Right now they're just burning gas. BTW, I wasn't specifically knocking Ide, although he shouldn't be driving an F1 car.

Cost - Yeah, F1 is expensive sport, deep pockets required.

BTW, it's nice thery're channeling some of their savings into the motorhomes.

 

[bartelby]

As soon as I Prodrive on the list of applicants I knew they would be a trong contender. Besides their WRC cars they've built some pretty spiffy Ferraris for LeMans GTS racing...

Not forgetting the Aston Martin DBR9 too.

The way WRC is heading I can see Prodrive ceasing WRC car development and production.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Wow, how could I forget the DBR9?

It will be interesting to see how Prodrive handles the demands of an F1 season; besides the race cars they build they are involved in the design of many components for OEMs (some of the WRXs use some Prodrive designed bits IIRC)...I wonder if they will drop a lot of projects in order to focus on F1.

My gut instinct is that they have the expertise to build competitive cars - of course, they need to find some people to drive them too.