By Graham Duxbury
Formula One from the Inside
Three-car teams –
bring them on
Graham Duxbury is a former
racing driver, champion and TV
commentator. He is featured in
the Hall of Fame at the Daytona
Motor Speedway in the USA.
Here, in 1984, he made history
by winning the famous 24-hour
sports car race in an all-South
African team, partnered by Sarel
van der Merwe and Tony Martin.
Despite Manfredi Ravetto, Caterham’s new principal, putting a
brave face on his teams woes, there is little doubt that the perennial
backmarker – together with Marussia and Sauber – is in danger of
being sidelined due to its inability to financially sustain its presence
on the grid.
W
ealthy Malaysian businessman
Tony Fernandes, the previous
Caterham owner, pulled the plug
on his team earlier this year after enduring
five long seasons of poor performances that
cost many millions of dollars. Unable to find
a buyer for his struggling outfit, he simply
handed it to a consortium of Swiss and
Middle Eastern backers.
“I don’t know what the target of the
previous owner was, but it has proven
not to be sustainable,” says Ravetto in a
revealing but not unexpected statement.
With the existence of so many smaller
teams being called into question, there is an
increasingly likelihood that the major teams
will be called upon to fill the vacant slots on
the grid by fielding three cars each.
Soon, F1 fans might see grids comprised
of 24 cars from just eight teams. Of course,
it may not happen overnight. Perhaps one
or two teams will be tasked with fielding
an extra car as the struggling teams
‘abandon ship’. That said, it is believed that
a ‘contractual trigger’ is primed to set the
process in motion as soon as the field falls
below 20 cars or the loss of one team.
Is the three-car concept good for the
sport? I think it is. Most certainly the quality
of the field will improve and, with more
competitive cars on the grid, the racing is
likely to be more exciting.
It will put more drivers behind the wheel
of top-line cars, so we’d be able to see
the true potential of the likes of Jules
Bianchi, Marcus Ericsson and Max Chilton,
unencumbered by their currently unwieldy
steeds.
It may well open the door for woman
drivers, like Suzie Wolff or Simona de
Silvestro, who are waiting in the wings for
an opportunity.
Perhaps predictably, some teams –
including Ferrari - favour the idea, while
Mercedes-Benz and others are opposed
to the change. Certainly the costs
associated with fielding an additional car
will be significant. But this is where the F1
commercial rights holders, CVC Capital
Partners, will have to come to the party to
support the teams in a bid to keep CVC’s
show ‘on the road’ and their investment
viable.
However, if the grids for early 2015 races
are comprised of a mix of two- and threecar teams it would throw a sizable spanner
into the works – the finely-tuned rules that
govern the constructors’ championship.
Already there are rumblings that points
scored by a third car would be declared ‘null
and void’ which may see teams unwilling to
foot the (sizable) bill for a third car that does
little more than make up the numbers.
Nevertheless, there would be benefits
associated with the fielding of a third car in
a mixed field, most notably the increased
feedback provided during limited testing
opportunities which could translate into
strategic and technical advantages on race
day.
One of the most successful privateer
teams in history was owned and
run by Johnnie Walker whisky heir,
Rob Walker. His team is famous for
being the last privateer team to win a
world championship Grand Prix – the
1968 British GP - with Jo Siffert at the
wheel of the team’s distinctive dark blue
Lotus with white noseband.
Of course, privateer-run cars would create
further chaos when it comes to points
scoring in what is seen by the governing
body as the all-important constructors’
championship. Today Toro Rosso, th e
Red Bull sister team, is forbidden from
using any intellectual property from its
championship-winning sibling.
There was a time when the two teams
shared inputs from design genius Adrian
Newey. But a stop was quickly put to this
practice as team cars now have to be
independently designed and constructed.
I maintain that the constructors’
championship is of limited interest to
the vast majority of F1 fans – the tifosi
excepted - who are more driver-orientated
and at whom the marketing campaigns of
the sponsors are targeted.
Maybe the three-car rule will pave the way
for a return of private entries? What if the
third Ferrari, for instance, was run by a
separate team as was the case at the 1961
French Grand Prix when rookie Giancarlo
Baghetti won in a ‘non-works’ entered
Ferrari 156.
| Wheels in Action
96
november 2014
Would Fernando Alonso’s
legion of fans desert him
should be drive for McLaren
in 2015? My guess is they’ll
retain their loyalty for the
Spaniard no matter what
colour flag he flies.