Wednesday, February 3, 2010

StefanGP might be my new favorite F1 team

So, the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, the governing body for most international motorsport series) allowed 4 (originally 3) new teams to enter Formula 1. Of these 4, its looking increasingly likely that one of them, Campos Meta, will not be able to make it to the first Grand Prix in Bahrain in about 40 days.

Meanwhile, one of the teams that was not chosen by the FIA, StefanGP, has been continuing to develop their team, by buying the chassis that Toyota developed for this season, before they decided they were pulling out of F1. StefanGP apparently has shipped supplies and cars and stuff to Bahrain, even though they won't be allowed to race, as they are not formally part of F1. Seems they're counting on one of the 4 new teams not being able to make it in F1.

And this is where the rumors and wild speculation starts:

Back to Campos Meta. They apparently contracted Dallara, an Italian company that builds racing chassis, to build their F1 car for them. Unfortunately Campos Meta seems to have run out of money, and have been unable to pay Dallara for the chassis.

Cue StefanGP. According to a report/rumor/article I just read, it seems that the StefanGP folks just bought the chasis that was originally developed for Campos Meta from Dallara. And remember, StefanGP already has a chassis (the one formerly known as a Toyota). So, basically, they just bought the Dallara chassis to ensure that Campos Meta wouldn't be able to buy it, should they ever scrounge up the money.

That is such a delightfully asshole-ish move, that I will definitely support the StefanGP team, assuming that this rumor thing is correct, in the unlikely event that they are actually allowed to join F1 in Bahrain. One can only hope that their livery will involve a smiley face sticking out its tongue.

5 comments:

Su said...

It was rather prickish.

Dan said...

And awesome.

Su said...

Well... I never said it wasn't.

Dan said...

Fair enough.

Su said...

Okay, just making sure you understand