New teams talking to FOTA

As I suggested in an earlier post, it appears Prodrive and Lola, who failed to make the FIA entry list last week, have been speaking to FOTA about joining their breakaway series.

Speaking to the press yesterday, McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh revealed there has been interest. "We would welcome any new teams or existing teams for that matter. Certainly there has been an expression of interest from some of the names you just mentioned [Prodrive and Lola] and I think a lot of teams want to be racing against the Ferraris, Red Bulls, the Brawns and hopefully ourselves.

"Formula One has not done a good job in my view of developing the number of teams that compete and in developing a series which is focussed on what the fans want and I think there is an opportunity to do a better job and to have some fresh energy.

"Clearly, we have had already in the last few hours quite a lot of interest from some other teams that want to be part of this series and we are going to do everything we can to encourage them to be part of it. I think just as FOTA has already demonstrated its assistance to retaining teams and assisting the independent teams I think that has got to be part of the ethos of any new organisation."

Another prospective entrant, Team N Technology which is being overseen by a group calling themselves MSC, withdrew its application to enter the FIA championship on Friday, criticizing the governing body over its handling of the entry process. A statement read:

"MSC believes that through its wrong actions and objectionable management methods, the FIA severely hurt MSC's efforts to become a new team and undermined the Formula 1 sport, taken as a whole."

The company did not rule out re-applying for an F1 place when the current controversy was settled.

"MSC shall consider making a new application when the Formula 1 environment is stabilised and the conditions are met for a transparent and loyal contest, ensuring visibility and predictability to the candidate teams," it said.