The FIA has denied Serbian Formula One hopeful Stefan GP the chance of racing in the sport this season following the collapse of US F1.
US F1 finally confirmed yesterday it would not be taking part in this year’s championship as it had no car to race, nor the required funds to develop the car.
Stefan GP, using the chassis and engine Toyota had already developed for 2010 before pulling out, had already sent containers to Bahrain and Malaysia to cover the team for the first four races and was hopeful of securing F1’s 13th entry following US F1’s collapse.
But the FIA has confirmed that only 12 teams will take part in this year’s championship and it was instead poised to open the application process for the 2011 season instead.
“The US F1 Team have indicated that they will not be in a position to participate in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship,” said the FIA in a statement.
“Having considered the various options, the FIA confirms that it is not possible for a replacement team to be entered for the championship at this late stage.
“In the coming days the FIA will announce details of a new selection process to identify candidates to fill any vacancies existing at the start of the 2011 season.”
Join the debate
Add your comment
Re: Stefan GP not granted F1 entry
Do I detect a note of cynisim there :-)
I for one won't miss the insufferable Jacques Villeneuve.
Re: Stefan GP not granted F1 entry
Shame - one team with an entry and no car, and another team with a car and no entry, and neither of them will be in Bahrain. You'd have thought some merger deal would be sensible way forward but I guess there was too much pride at stake on one or both sides.
Re: Stefan GP not granted F1 entry
Despite all the publicity they have been given, and the fact that they had been sending 'containers of equipment' to Bahrain, signed Jacques Villeneuve, etc, they were never going to get an entry.
The rules require that the FIA and ALL the other teams agree to the entry, which would include Ferrari. And Ferrari had already said that they would never agree to an entry employing Mike Coughlan. Plus they described Stefan GP as 'Serbian vultures' so there was a bit of a clue there...
Which makes you wonder about the wisdom of Stefan spending so much money when they were doomed to begin with. Their only hope was to agree a merger with USF1 and race under the USF1 name, and that fell over weeks ago.