F1 grid Set to Expand? Rumours of New Teams Testing in Wind Tunnels!
Apr.19 - Gunther Steiner says he has heard rumours that potential new Formula 1 teams are already testing in existing competitors' wind tunnels.
McLaren supremo Zak Brown told the Washington Post in recent days that "three or four teams" are set to meet the FIA's forthcoming deadline this month to apply for up to two vacant spots in pitlane from as early as 2025.
"I'd love to see the grid expand with the right terms and conditions," he said.
Brown, however, makes no secret of his support for the most visible and vocal of the potential applicants - Andretti-Cadillac - as he is already in business with Michael Andretti's US-based empire in other categories.
Further ramping up controversy are rumours that some of the more serious applicants for 2025 or 2026 are already up-and-running in existing teams' wind tunnels.
"It's clearly rumours," Haas team boss Gunther Steiner said. "I have no facts if they're doing it or not.
"But if the rules are like this, I think they are free to do that. I mean, we cannot say you're not allowed to do something if you're not even part of Formula 1.
"If you're not part of F1, it doesn't mean you will be part of it, so you're taking a risk. So, I have no big opinion about that. By the rules, they're allowed to do it."
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 during the 2022 United States GP at Circuit of the Americas
Steiner added that he's not even overly concerned that aerodynamic development data could 'leak' from the prospective team renting the wind tunnel to the existing team that owns it.
"The FIA keeps a close eye on that one, so I'm not too concerned," he insisted. "We hear the rumours, the FIA hears the rumours and I'm sure they are going to check now."
Steiner also agrees with Brown that it is misunderstood how much influence the existing teams will have on the FIA's decision about the 11th or 12th teams.
"We haven't got a lot of voting rights on it," he confirmed. "If they think it makes Formula 1 better for everybody and there's upsides, I have no problem."
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Nothing like a good soap opera! Full of rumour and inuendo!
This one sounds like an adaptation from East Enders!
What's not to like? I'm certain that Mork and Mindy on the top-floor at FIA HQ are soiling themselves with glee - more cannon-fodder for their corroding view of how F1 ought to be.
No doubt, the Compliance Drones will be skuttling about in a frenzy of disdainful oversight ensuring existing teams renting out their tunnels only benefit financially. "We'll have none of that IP-leakage, thank-you-very-much!" they squeak loudly as they slide noiselessly from the room.
All the more the merrier
Good times when, if you could pay the "entrance fee", you could try to "pre-qualify" for the qualifying day; when you could see 24, 26, 28 cars starting a race; when to pass someone you needed to risk, to know your limits and the limits of your car, and not just push a bottom against a defenseless competitor; where the limits of innovation, were almost unlimited...
Better days indeed