Belatti wrote:WhiteBlue wrote: The previous years no new teams were admitted and you have to go back to the unsuccessfull Super Aguri attempt to see what was wrong.
I would not call Super Aguri unsuccessfull. They scored points and where better than Honda on their second year. And that success was their main problem. It made Honda cash go away and they could not find sponsors, even inside Japan.
I have to aggree. For what was a $90 million per year budget, they scored more points to budget than Honda. They even found a 0.5second improvement on the RA106 in set up alone for their car the SA07 in set up refinements alone. Super Aguri ran out of money, altho when they withdrew before the Turkish GP in 2008 they had money, it was the Honda board that was one of the team gaurentors, the other being Aguri Suzuki himself, they turned up, could have done another 2 or 3 races with how much money they had to compete till then, and after that race pull out. It was Honda that revoked the entry.
The Super Aguri model was a wonderful one, get a 2-3 year old chassis, hook up to a up to date spec drive train, update to the regs of the day, compete. Learn on the road. Wonderfully simplistic and naieve sounding. Altho off the pace by arround 3.5 seconds (less than the current Virgin and Lotus) but the fact you could get competing for the $35million a season it cost for the first year of Super Aguri is a wonderful consept, but the last of a by-gone age.
I know we have had our debates over customer cars, but personally i liked the fact that a team could get going on a 2-3 year old design updated is such a novel idea. One thing i think we have seen the back of, but one thing id think about allowing again, as long as there was a consensus amungst the teams.
If im right, wasnt Prodrives attempt arround a 1 year old McLaren chassis with one year old Mercedes power. Thus an argument ensued, and the then Spyker team led by Colin Kolles threatened an official protest if they entered the 2008 season, and thus Prodrive pulled out. Prodrive with the year old gear would have been arround a second off the pace, but it was enough to be ahead of Spyker. Williams initially objected, but someone the pointed out the Williams herritage, where they started out, and thus shut up. The Spyker argument was the fact that it would have been Honda would have 2 chassis on the grid, Red Bull with 2, McLaren/Mercedes with 2 and 3 different Manufacturers as well as Williams would have been in front of them.