Newbies

This is the first news I have read about the new teams for a while.

How long does it take to create a Formula 1 car? I don't just mean create the first rolling chassis, I mean test the car to the point where it is ready to go racing the next day.


My understanding, based on Toyota's protracted and sometimes controversial testing programme before they joined the grid in 2002, is that it takes considerably longer than all the new teams that are due to enter F1 in 2010 have had since their applications were acccepted.


As a result, I am bit confused as to why we are only just now hearing about one of the teams readying their car. I'm glad to see that it is the Manor Motorsport team as in my mind, they are the most deserving of the three new entries because of their extensive and illustrious experience in motorsport. Any team that ran Hamilton and Raikkonen to lower formulae titles surely deserves to join them on the grid.


The doubts over USF1 appear to have been silenced for a while as Autosport reported this week that they have settled on their European base and the BBC reported that the team had impressed FIA inspectors. However, I'm still concerned that there is no official news on Campos; their substandard official website does not even have a news section.


F1's future is no longer in doubt, but I can't help feeling that Prodrive should have been chosen over Campos and that the former BMW team should be in readiness to replace USF1.

Come on Jenson!

I have normally prided myself on my lack of partisan supporting in Formula 1.

I have tended to support drivers that I like - sometimes because of their off-track personality rather than their on-track ability.

That's why I was less fussed than I perhaps should have been as a Brit when Lewis won the title last year. I supported Hamilton because of his on-track flamboyance and the way he has rejuvenated interest in Formula 1. I supported Massa because of his pleasant off-track persona.

My (perhaps bizarre) reasons for supporting drivers has meant that up into this weekend I have supported Jenson Button more because of his back story rather than because of his nationality.

When I started to seriously watch motorsport back in 1998, Jenson was one of the most promising British youngsters coming through the ranks and I have kept an eye on his career ever since. I always felt he deserved a better chance to show the ability that he so clearly has and first displayed to the world way back in 2000.

The fact that he now has that chance has perked up my interest and I gladly threw myself headlong into becoming a Jenson fan-boy for the races in Melbourne and Malaysia. After his win this weekend however, I am finding myself shift the reasons for my support.

I know there is a long to go, but wouldn't it be great to have the first back-to-back British champions since the late 1960s?