• Bahrain Grand Prix

Concerns grow over slow newcomers

Martin Williamson March 10, 2010 « Sauber without new sponsor | Identity of White Stig revealed »

Concerns are growing over the presence on the grid in Bahrain of three new teams to Formula One, with more established outfits increasingly worried slow vehicles could in effect become little more than roadblocks to faster cars.

Three new teams - HRT, Lotus and Virgin Racing - will all take their place in Bahrain, but in pre-season testing in Spain both Lotus and Virgin were seconds off the pace of their rivals, while HRT's preparations were dogged by financial worries, so much so that its car has yet to be driven on a track. To add to fears over HRT's ability to make the grade, neither of its drivers has driven in a grand prix and Karun Chandhok, a late signing to join Bruno Senna, has at best a very moderate career in Formula Two.

With Lotus and Virgin clocking at around four seconds a lap slower than others, there has been unease among teams for a few weeks, but on the eve of the season Red Bull's Christian Horner publicly broke ranks, admitting his drivers "will just try to stay out of their way".

"The danger is the time difference is going to be so big and the difference in the closing speeds is massive. You might start a lap eight seconds behind somebody and think you are OK. But you will catch these guys before the end of the lap, and then, will they be looking in their mirrors?

"The potential for them to cause an incident is reasonably high. Teams are going to have to work hard to get track position so their drivers don't run up to the back of HRT and Virgin and Lotus at the end of a flying lap."

Concerns were hardly assuaged on Tuesday when Lotus' Tony Fernandes said his aim was simply to finish, admitting "we're a little slower than the major leading teams".

But Jenson Button said the difficulties were more likely to be in practice and qualifying than the race itself. "It's not so much a question of danger, but it will make it more difficult for us to work in practice," he said. "It could be we're starting a fast lap with low fuel and you come across a Lotus or a Virgin with full tanks running 12 seconds slower. Even in qualifying, with 24 cars on the track, it will be crucial to get it right. In the race it will be better, because the difference between first and last will be more like three or four seconds."

And McLaren MD Jonathan Neale called on teams to back the newcomers. "We have to try and get new teams off the ground and stabilise them as quickly as possible." Nevertheless, even he was unsure about the presence of HRT. "I'm sure that the FIA will look very closely at it and if there are big gaps in closing speeds and plenty of red flags, then they'll take the necessary actions," he said.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa could barely disguise his contempt for the new teams. "I hope they won't be a danger," he said. "There are six to seven teams one second apart while those teams are four seconds behind. It's not good for the sport and not good for them. It's like two different series. They'll suffer. And we'll suffer too, when we have them in front of us during qualifying."

Virgin's Timo Glock, a more experienced driver in one of the slow cars, said he "didn't care" about objections. "I think that for the fans and for Formula One, it is a good thing if new teams can come in."

However, while smaller fields in recent years have created much more space on the tracks, negotiating backmarkers has been a feature of motor racing since the earliest days. In the 1980s, when low-budget and underperforming teams came and went with bewildering regularity, races often featured some dismal entries. The LIFE F1 car was so slow - as much as 19 seconds a lap behind the leaders - its driver Bruno Giacomelli said he feared being struck from behind because his car was so slow more than crashing himself.

Martin Williamson is managing editor of digital media ESPN EMEA

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