Stefan to replace Campos on the grid, hires Villeneuve for the second seat......

Well that would certainly account for the determination. USF1 hopes fading fast...

 

So Stefan now owns TWO "teams", namely the former Toyota team and the rest of Dallara's work for Campos?

And, if the Villeneuve rumor is true, we have FIVE world champions on the grid... interesting times for sure!!

 

Well, i sure would like to see some sources on that info.

Even if Stefan seems a lot more serious than campos, i'm not sure they have that many funds to buy all that stuff (toyota+ campos+ running a season)

 

this is bizarre - he's to be testing at the Algarve later this month with his Toyota .......need correct facts!!

Carol

 

no, one team and a couple extra chassis

 

they didn't buy campos, just the dallara car. i'm sure it was "only" a few million. reported about 3MM euros IIRC and stefan probably got a discount.

my guess is it had nothing to do with forcing anyone out. campos was already done for but clinging on to that spot in hopes of still selling the team (but there are no other players so that wouldn't have happened). stefan headed them off by buying the chassis ... thus allowing them to solidify sponsor deals.

 

Yes, but a couple extra chassis (tools? spare parts? maybe even some mechanics?) which he can't use as he already has the Toyota

I really wonder where this guy gets his money from...

 

thanks for the clarification, now who's going to replace USF1?

Carol

 

I found an article ! !

Carol

Formula One sources suggest that the fledgling Stefan GP team is in the process of opening up a 2010 entry spot by effectively forcing the downfall of the new Campos Meta F1 team.

Stefan GP has a deal with Toyota, and its new car--which would have been the Toyota TF110, had the Japanese manufacturer remained in F1 this year--will test in Portugal later this month. Stefan has lined up Toyota protégé Kazuki Nakajima to drive it.

The Serbian-owned outfit has positioned itself as an unofficial “first reserve” should one of the new teams fail before the first race, at the Bahrain circuit in mid-March.

Sources claim that Campos is behind with its payments to Italian chassis constructor Dallara, which has a deal believed to be worth e16 million ($22 million) a year to supply the team with cars and technology.

Sources also suggest that the situation has progressed to the stage where Dallara can now sell the F1 project, and that Stefan will buy the intellectual property. That would leave Campos without a car and free up its entry spot. Whether Stefan would make any use of the Dallara knowledge is unknown.

Team boss Zoran Stefanovich is associated closely with F1 czar Bernie Ecclestone, and we would presume that the new team's passage to the grid in Bahrain will be eased by the sport's supremo.

However, the FIA may yet have something to say about that. New FIA president Jean Todt used to work for Ferrari, and Stefan's technical chief is Mike Coughlan--the ex-McLaren man at the heart of the 2007 industrial-espionage affair that saw Coughlan in possession of confidential Ferrari F1 technical documents.

If Campos fails and Stefan succeeds, driver Bruno Senna will be on the market, joining the likes of Nick Heidfeld as possible teammates to the Japanese driver.

Stefan faces at least one other notable problem: While there are still F1 personnel in Cologne--home to Toyota's motorsports base--who can join the new project, many Toyota F1 designers and engineers have moved to other teams, notably Lotus.

 

Right, they can't use it (or rather, have no need for it). So they wouldn't buy any tools or parts or any mechanics. Just the minimal package that Dallara is willing to sell, ie solely the chassis which I hear is 3MM euros, and into the bin with it.

 

Of course everyone is quick to make stefan out to be so bold since it sells headlines, but the reality is campos is already done. This is just a pat on the butt as they were already out the door.

Stefan would not even have been able to buy the dallara chassis if campos weren't all but officially finished.

 

It's ok, Formula One needs a Bad Guy team to offset the new Pretty Boys Virgin Racing

 

Interesting ...

Only 38 days to the Bahrain GP.

We should see then who is really in F1.

I am surprised at the demise of Campos Meta. Buying Dallara technology was the quickest way to get on the grid, probably the cheapest too.

Virgin, Lotus and USF1 had all chosen the more difficult process of designing their own chassis.

A new Serbian team, and a new Russian driver (at Renault), Eastern Europe is coming into F1! Expect some Russian oligarch to buy a stake in a team soon...

 

Apparently not cheap enough...

 

It's all about the sponsors you can attract for the first season. Probably didn't manage that.
I suppose that like the Malaysian Lotus boss, 'Stefan' is some sort of multi millionnaire who will bankroll his team at the begining.
Force India worked mostly on that basis so far, and rumour is that the funds are now running low.

 

I'm still not convinced that even if Campos fail, the FIA will give the entry to Stefan GP.

So far, everything I'm hearing about them, from shipping their equiptment to Bahrain to this latest "news", sounds like someone gatecrashing a party they were not invited to. It's as if they're convinced thet they can force the FIA to accept them as an entry.

 

Already did - that fella Alex Shnaider who bought Jordan & renamed it Midland (was nominally Canadian I think but basically Russian)......ran it for a season and then couldn't stand the heat in the kitchen & sold it Spyker (before they sold it to Mallya & it became FI)

 

this is ALL that counts: Team boss Zoran Stefanovich is associated closely with F1 czar Bernie Ecclestone, and we would presume that the new team's passage to the grid in Bahrain will be eased by the sport's supremo.

Carol

 

I must admit that Stefan GP do seem to be going about things as if they have some inside information (along the lines of: "Just make sure you're available in Bahrain!" ), but I can't help wondering if Jean Todt might want to stamp his authority on Bernie a bit and say "No, not going to happen!". If anyone was likely to stand up to Bernie, I wouldn't be surprised to see JT do it.

 

I cant say what thrills me more:

To see Toyota back or to see Villeneuve back.

Both is fantastic news!

 

but unlike schumacher, i have serious doubts about JV

 

True, but he can hide behind the car.

I just love the guy and I'm sure interviews with him will spark some fireworks.