When the Formula One circus rolls into Melbourne for the season
opener in March, the sport's three newest teams will be embarking
on their third consecutive campaigns in the sport. Each of the
fledgling outfits has notched up thirty eight races to date, their
six cars boasting a cumulative total of 228 separate entries. Now
consider than not one of those 228 attempts has ended any higher
than twelfth place, quite a feat when you realise that these cars
comprise a quarter of the grid. It is fair to say that none of the
young teams currently pose a headache to historians. Why are they
finding it so hard to hit the big time?
First, we must realise that none of the new teams has enjoyed
stability. Lotus Racing became Team Lotus, and now it morphs into
Caterham. Three name changes in two years is an impressive tally,
but the Malaysian team's woes pale in comparison to those of
Marussia (formerly Marussia Virgin, and beforehand simply Virgin or
Manor Motorsports) who proudly unveiled and then swiftly dumped an
all-CFD approach to designing their challenger whilst swapping
rookies at a rate of knots. Then there's HRT (yes, formerly
Hispania, and previously Campos) who have fielded three owners and
seven drivers in their short career, and has just announced the
unceremonious dumping of team boss Colin Kolles.
Second, there is the small issue of finance. Money is the key to
success in Formula One. It opens doors. The newer entrants make up
the sport's peasantry. Rumours suggest that this label does not
necessarily apply to Caterham, who reputedly enjoy a budget in
excess of £100m annually. That's a lot of money - or it would be,
in any other world. Here it is a relatively paltry sum, and a vast
quantity must be spent on the services of the race winning duo
messrs Kovalainen and Trulli. Have pity then on Marussia, who could
not even run a windtunnel, and HRT, who reputedly upgraded their
car just once in 2010 and then bolted on a few more bits (and the
desperately revealing "your logo here" paint scheme) for last
year's fruitless campaign. None of the new entrants is flash for
cash, and at the end of the day that means an absence of top people
and a similar lack of updates.
Thirdly and finally, we have the issue of power. Each of the
teams enjoys a technical partnership with an established runner:
Red Bull and Caterham co-operate on a number of components, as do
frontrunners McLaren with Marussia, whilst Williams send their
hand-me-downs the way of HRT. Similarly, each young squad fields a
decent technical line-up: the likes of Mike Gascoyne, Pat Symonds
and until recently, Geoff Willis, have been doing their level best
to step things up a gear. So what's gone wrong? You can't ignore
the part played by Cosworth. The engine minnows provided engines to
all three new teams in 2010, and accordingly they occupied the
bottom three positions on the scoreboard. This year even flagship
runners Williams fell from the midfield, and along with Caterham
they have now jumped ship to Renault. The legendary marque has
produced a cheap but ineffective powerplant.
These aren't the only problems facing the teams at the wrong end
of the grid - but they are big ones. Three major factors: a lack of
stability, a lack of money and a lack of power leave the new
generation trailing the established teams. Caterham is not immune,
but it looks to be the most serious in moving up the grid. It has
the race winners in the cockpit and design office, while a
championship winning engine sits in the back. For Marussia and
Virgin, the future appears at best uncertain. Before they can mix
it with the best, they need to resolve these three key issues.
Until that day, their participation remains literally and
figuratively pointless.