Exactly, I think this is the point most people are missing. If you want to be in F1 you have to play by the FIA's rules, not force them. Somehow etiquette seems to have gone over the collective head's of StefanGP. Regardless of whether or not you believe they should be admitted the FIA holds all the keys. If that's all they wanted STR has been for sale for sometime now.
The latest instalment: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82287 I found this part interesting: But for the time being, Stefanovic thanked Toyota for its support and says their co-operation is no longer possible. "For 2010, it's not feasible to do it anymore," Stefanovic told AUTOSPORT. "We have some other [plan] in mind, we will see". My money would be on an attempt to buyout or buy into HRT F1 rather than STR as it would get them on the grid for a lot less money. (Assuming HRT would be prepared to sell, of course!)
If the FIA is bound and determined to keep them off the grid buying another team might not be enough.
Hence why I mentioned the posibility of buying into HRT instead of buying them out, harder to stop them that way.
My point is that if the FIA is against them even buying a team might not work. Impossible to know unless it happens of course. I'm just cynical.
You already know My thinking on the whole FIA Vs Stefan GP situation. From day one I've been saying that the FIA wants nothing to do with them. I'm not sure what they could do to stop a buy in with a team already on the grid, but I'm sure they'd try. Guess we're just a pair of old cynics!.
Sorry for the slight thread resurection but I read an interesting interview in F1 magazine with Max Mosley (sorry Steve!) about Stefan GP. He reveals in the interview that out of 15 teams that applied for an F1 entry, Stefan GP were one of the first 5 instantly rejected by the FIA as not being economically viable. He said there was absolutely no evidence of any proper financial support for a team being available and that the Serbian Government's promise of support was merely a letter of intent only, with nothing guaranteed in it. At the end of the interview, Mosley basically said that if Stefan GP were to attempt to enter F1 at anytime in the near future with the same business plan, they would basically be wasting their time.
Sorry for the thread resurection but can Stefan GP not take a hint?. Now They're saying that not only are they applying to enter the 2011 season but they'll also be building their own F1 track as well!. From the Autosport site: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83123
I'm not knocking the guy for trying, if he can come up with the goods and prove he is not like USF1 hot air then good luck to him, he blasted Mosleys cossie spec engine rules, so he is ok in my book.