(Frederic Le Floc'h DPPI for Renault Sport F1)
Formula One finds itself in a crisis. The sport should be focusing
on what is set to be an extremely exciting United States Grand Prix in Austin
Texas but instead we find ourselves in the midst of turmoil in F1 with the news
today that a second team in less than a week has gone into administration.
Following Friday's announcement that the
Caterham F1 Team had entered administration it was confirmed on Monday morning
that the Marussia F1 Team have also entered administration. This situation is
completely unprecedented that we have two teams in Formula One placed in
administration within a number of days of each other.
Caterham, Marussia and the Hispania Racing
Team all entered Formula One in 2010 with HRT forced out of the sport at the
end of the 2012 season.
When we look back at the history of the
sport, 2014 world champions Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team and reigning world
champions Infiniti Red Bull Racing can trace their roots back to privateer
ownership.
Infiniti Red Bull Racing can be traced
back to the Stewart Grand Prix team who made their Formula One debut in 1997
while Mercedes can be traced back to the Tyrell Formula One team who were sold
to British American Tobacco with the team being run by Craig Pollock and
Jacques Villeneuve. The team known as British American Racing made their
Formula One debut in 1999.
In the year 2000, BAR negotiated a engine
supply deal with the Honda Motor Company with team being renamed BAR-Honda. The
team finished their first season with Honda power in fifth place just ahead of
Jordan Mugen Honda team who had been vying for a supply of 'works' Honda
engines for the year 2000.
In 2006 Honda decided to enter Formula One
as a full Constructor and bought the Brackley based team from BAT and ran the
team until the end of the 2008 Formula One season. The team is now the 2014
Constructors champions Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team who bought the Brawn GP
team at the end of the 2009 season after Ross Brawn lead the team to both the
2009 Drivers and Constructors championship.
What is now the Sahara Force India Formula
One Team can trace their roots back to Eddie Jordan's Jordan Grand Prix team
who made their Formula One debut at the Detroit Grand Prix in 1991. Jordan sold
his team at the end of the 2005 Formula One season to the Russian Midland group
who ran the team for just one season before selling the team to the Spyker car
company who in turn sold the team at the end of the 2007 season.
Dr Vijay Mallya took over the team and
renamed the Force India who remain in the sport today and are known as Sahara
Force India Formula One Team.
In 1981 what is now the Lotus F1 Team made
their Formula One debut as the Toleman Hart who gave Brazilian Ayrton Senna his
Formula One debut at the 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix. Toleman was taken over by
the United Colours of Benetton in 1986.
Benetton were involved in Formula One up
until the end of 2001 when the team was sold to Renault who returned to the
sport as works team for the start of the 2002 season the same year that the
Toyota Motor Company entered the sport as a works team.
Privateer Formula One team's are part of
the DNA of the sport and have helped it to become one of the biggest sports in
the world and it is a real shame to see both the Caterham and Marussia F1 Teams
who between them employee 390 people in Leafield and Banbury respectively go
into administration.
It is not the responsibility of the larger
Formula One team's to ensure the survival of their smaller rivals but it is up
to the sport’s governing body and the commercial rights holder to ensure that
all the teams on the grid are financially healthy and sustainable and the only
way of ensuring that this happens is to make changes to the way in which prize
money is distributed among the teams so that it is move evenly spread up and
down the pit-lane.
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