Newsgroup: it.sport.formula1.moderato
Titolo: [ENG] Why Super Aguri F1 is not on the entry list

Source: 
grandprix.com
http://www.grandprix.com/ft/ft15987.html
Super Aguri F1 has not been given an entry in the FIA Formula 1 World
Championship in 2006. The team failed to pay the $48m bond necessary for
a new team to enter F1. Super Aguri is intending to pay but the money had
not arrived by the deadline and so the FIA ruled that the team could not
be on the entry list. The team will, however, be allowed to re-apply and
will still be able to compete in 2006 if all the other F1 teams agree to
allow the entry to go through.
What is clear is that Formula 1 as a sport wants the new team to happen
but that individual team owners may not be very helpful. The backmarkers
have too much to lose to allow Super Aguri to join the club and it is
hard to imagine that MF1 Racing (nee Jordan) is going to be convinced to
sign to allow Honda to join the sport, knowing that the chances are that
with Honda backing Super Aguri F1 will be a more successful team. This
will push MF1 back to 11th and that will mean that the team will not get
the TV money that is so important to the smaller F1 operations. Without
that money - which is around $10m - the team will not be able to compete
and will face going out of business.
The cynic might argue that in the current world of F1 it is inevitable
that operations like MF1 are doomed because even if Super Aguri F1 does
not appear in 2006 it will turn up in 2007 and the result will be the
same. There is sound logic to this argument just as there is sound logic
to the argument that there should be a restriction to paying out money to
only 10 teams. The teams that get the money have earned their money and
expanding the payments to help new teams enter the sport leaves the sport
open to opportunists who might throw together a team to survive for a
year and then disappear taking the TV money with them. Under the current
rules and regulations that is not possible. However it is a good idea for
the sport to have more cars and in the current negotiating it would be
wise for everyone to agree to expand the payments to cover 12 teams. The
money can be protected by any number of conditions and if the money is
not claimed for a few years it can be used for other purposes, such as
improving the quality of the television coverage, which is essential is
the sport wishes to retain a large TV audience.
The threat of an 11th team was sufficient to convince Paul Stoddart to
sell Minardi because he understood that without the money from FOM his
team could not operate and he knew that he could not compete with another
well-funded team.
The team's omission from the entry list is a blow to the Super Aguri F1
staff at the old Arrows factory at Leafield but the mood is positive.
They hope that the entry will be accepted because having a Japanese team
and a Japanese driver is good for the sport.
Strategically, however, 2006 is important. One of the reasons for the new
team is to provide Takuma Sato with a platform but perhaps more
importantly Honda executives know that in 2007 Toyota will be fighting
them with two top teams as it is anticipated that Panasonic Toyota Racing
will be joined in the Toyota attack by Williams F1. In order to be ready
for that Honda wanted to use 2006 to get Super Aguri F1 up and running
and ready to fight for points from the very start.
So there is a lot at stake. And, of course, Toyota might not want to sign
to allow their jobto become harder.
But for the moment, Super Aguri is moving ahead, hoping that the problems
will sort themselves out. The plan is to use 2002 Arrows chassis, which
are owned by Minardi, for the first three races and then introduce a
completely new car at Imola. The team has a Japanese racing licence and
its management, marketing and public relations are all being handled in
Japan. The British end of the operation is the design and manufacturing
and this is being carried out at the old Arrows factory in Leafield. This
was acquired recently from John Menard, the American home improvement
magnate who acquired it from Arrows back in 2003 with the aim of
supporting Eddie Cheever's operations in the Indy Racing League. The
alliance was short-lived and for the last two years Menard has been
running the operation in the low-profit automotive consultancy sector.
The arrival of Super Aguri was a blessing in disguise for him and the
deal was quickly done. Leafield is a fully-integrated Formula 1 facility
and was being wasted. Aguri Suzuki and his team realised that the fastest
way to get the facility working was to employ the people who used to work
there and so Daniele Audetto was approached. He in turn brought back
other Arrows men, notably chief technical officer Mark Preston, designer
Paul Bown and managers Kevin Lee and Wayne Humphries.
The team currently has 60 people working at Leafield and the aim is for
that to increase to around 100 before the start of the F1 season. In
addition we hear that Honda R&D in Japan will be heavily involved,
providing 50 of its engineers to work on the project. This will mean that
there will no need to use the facilities of Honda Racing F1 (nee BAR).
This also has links with Honda R&D but the two operations can work
independently of one another without one detracting from the efforts of
the other - and, from Honda's point of view, twice as many of its young
engineers will get trained in the ways of F1 - which is an important part
of the philosophy behind the company's involvement in the sport.
The entry problem is not going to stop the Super Aguri F1 staff working
in the hope that they will get an entry but it is going to be tough even
if there is a precedent. Back in 1993 Williams did not appear on the
entry list despite being World Champions the previous year. The entry was
delivered on time but was posted through the wrong letterbox in Paris and
was not found until after the deadline for entries. The FIA ruled that it
must stick to procedures and Williams was forced to get all the other
teams to agree to let them compete. That involved a number of important
concessions but Williams did get back into the championship. The
situation is rather different with Super Aguri because while F1 wants
Takuma Sato in the sport and wants to have a Japanese team, the new
organisation does not have the history and political clout of Williams.
Copyright 1988-2005, Inside F1, Inc.
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si' certo, belle speranze... abbiamo già visto che con il "good for the 
sport" molti prima si riempiono la bocca ma alla fine ci si puliscono il 
sedere.
-- 
www.beppegrillo.it

 sedere.
Basta che non facciano il contrario. Anche se a volte sembrerebbe...
-- 
"I think it's a clear indication for the future that we've got to get
out of this corner that we've painted ourselves into, because you can't
race these cars. It's more about pitstops and maybe the driver in front
making a mistake than actual racing now."  -- Ross Brawn, 2005