Anyone saying anything about Prodrive should really­ know what they are on about first.

the hamster slapping continues.

If Dave Richards really wants to go racing, he should­ stick to racing the cars he builds. His efforts in­ LMP1 are laudable, but he really must look to be­ competitive with the Porches and Ferraris in GT2 if he­ wants Aston Martin to be really successful. Then he is­ going to have to build cars for, and support reasonably­ proced privateer efforts for the "feeder"­ series like Porche has done forever.

When he has­ achieved similar status, then maybe he consider­ entering F1 as a manifacturer with an even chance of­ being competitive.

You must remember, Aston Martin­ were never competitive in F1. They made their bones in­ club and factory team endurance racing.

Looks like Wirth and USF1, of the three entries, will­ be the only new teams manufacturing their own chassis.­ That they all will be using Cosworth, atleast until the­ "Cossie" is proven suitable, or otherwise. ­ My guess is that Kalkhoven has had his engineers­ working for the past year upgrading and developing this­ engine to a state-of-the-art reality. This just may be­ the last chance for Cosworth to get re-established as­ an engine builder. You can be certain that Kevin has­ made certain that the engine regulations are going to­ be reasonably stable for at least the next four or five­ years because that is the only way he will be able to­ amortize the expenditures he is going to be making.

I­ really think that by mid season next year, you will­ find that all five minnows will be scrambling amongst­ themselves for position to steal a point or two in a­ race that turns into a race of attrition. It will­ certainly make for better racing to have contests­ throughout the field instead of for the top half of the­ grid.

15.FORD GETS IN AGAIN BY THE BACK DOOR LITRALLY hope­­ cosworth is up to scratch in aussie 2010 or it will­­ look like 3 F3 TEAMS being lapped on lap one!!! De­­ Cesaris comes to mind straight away as the mobile road­­ block in F1 wonder if he is one of the drivers coming­­ out of retirement???
AHAHAHAHAH i remenber the forti­ fords and the pacific fords and all that ford powered­ poo in the mind 90s was so @#$% funny but the car just­ couldnt go fast so frustrating they were taking 3 or 4­ laps per race if not more

F1 shouldn't be about Max and Bernie but the teams­ who work so hard to compete only to discover that they­ don't stand a chance against Brawn GP, what is the­ point of watching a sport you already no the outcome­ too

I thikn there's more to Prodrive being left off the­ initial list than meets the eye - There's no doubt­ that they are the most advanced/capable of the­ prospective new teams in terms of being further down­ the path to having a working car and team, and look to­ have the most secure backing (from the Middle East, a­ crucial market for F1) so I'm astounded that­ they've been left out. I think it's telling­ that David Richards hasn't made a big fuss about­ the decision yet - I'd certainly expect him to if­ his team was unfairly denied entry once again.

I'd­ guess that Max and Bernie know one of the manufacturers­ (probably Renault) is on the way out and Prodrive,­ being better organised already, would be the­ best-equipped team to take over as a late entry. Also,­ don't forget that Dietrich Mateschitz still, as far­ as I know, wants to sell off Toro Rosso at some point­ in the near future, as he can't afford to run two­ top-level teams; so that's another potential avenue­ of entry. I still think we'll be seeing Prodrive­ or Aston Martin cars on the grid next season...

As­ for Lola, their last attempt to enter as a team was a­ disaster, so I wonder if we'll see them back as a­ chassis manufacturer? if Campos are using Dallara­ chassis, maybe Manor will team up with Lola?

SixOneSix well said mate

Yea Lee13 an Aussie would be great, but not Stoddart , ­ we don't need a whiner!.

FORD GETS IN AGAIN BY THE BACK DOOR LITRALLY hope­ cosworth is up to scratch in aussie 2010 or it will­ look like 3 F3 TEAMS being lapped on lap one!!! De­ Cesaris comes to mind straight away as the mobile road­ block in F1 wonder if he is one of the drivers coming­ out of retirement???

As with ANY venture where millions of $$ of­ income/investment is involved. The product is MONEY,­ and virtually all deciscions are based upon how much­ goes out and how much will return.
As a friend in the­ US automotive market once told me when I asked him why­ GM doesn't make a "dream car", his­ response was that "GM is not in the business of­ making autos, they are in the business of making money,­ lots of money. Any and all decisions to produce any­ vehicle, point to how much can they make."

Has Paul Stoddard expressed an interest? Would be good­ to see the aussies joining the party, the sport needs­ some personalities and not meia robots.

I SEE USF1 ARE RACING NEXT YEAR THOUGHT F1 WAS A TEAM­ SPORT NOT A COUNTRY SPORT.

The beginning of Formula Ford over again. Isn't­ this Mad Max's ultimate plan ?

I'm waiting until the start of next season before I­ make any judgements on any of the new teams. Look how­ many people wrote Brawn off when they found out­ they'd be competing this season, I won't be­ making the same mistake. We'll see what happens, no­ point in making any predictions or forming any opinions­ because there's no way of knowing what will unfold.

Which of these teams will be able to compete without­ the $66m cap?
They must realise that there is a­ possibility Mosley will be forced to abandon his­ version of the budget cap.
What then!
Can they up­ their game to compete at a more resonable level of say­ $200m I very much doubt it!

What happend to ProDrive? bet Dave Richards is hacked­ off