ART drops F1 2011 entry bid

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ART Grand Prix has announced it will not pursue a place on the F1 grid in 2011, citing “unfavourable economic conditions”.

The FIA is expected to announce next month who has won the 13th place in Formula 1 for 2011, taking the place of US F1.

In a statement the team said:

ART Grand Prix has decided to withdraw their application to the FIA to take part in the 2011 Formula One World Championship.

The team has been working for several months on this ambitious project that they had undertaken with determination and lucidity. ART Grand Prix had forged strong bonds with several technical and financial partners but with unfavourable economic conditions they could not gather the necessary guarantees to ensure the stability of the project in the long-term.

Therefore, the company will have to postpone its project until a later date, however it remains completely focussed and dedicated to the other single-seater championships in which they are successfully involved in.

ART presently compete in GP2, GP2 Asia, GP3 and the Formula Three Euro Series. It won GP2 titles with Nico Hulkenberg last year, Lewis Hamilton in 2006 and Nico Rosberg in 2005.

Prodrive and Lola were among the other potential bidders who have declared they will not compete in F1 next year.

Epsilon Euskadi and Durango are believed to have submitted applications to compete in F1 next year. The FIA has recently announced cars that do not qualify within 7% of the fastest time in Q1 will not be allowed to start races in 2011.

One of ART’s owners is Nicolas Todt, son of FIA president Jean Todt.

Read more: 2011 F1 drivers and teams

Image (C) GP2 Media Service

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Keith Collantine
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29 comments on “ART drops F1 2011 entry bid”

  1. mika's_toolbox
    7th July 2010, 17:12

    Well this throws it wide open – By all accounts they seemed the outstanding candidate.

    1. I don’t think it was ever safe to assume ART would be selected. Most people figured they would because of Nicolas Todt’s presence, but Jean Todt has so far proven to be an entirely different leader to Max Mosley.

  2. it’s taking too long to name that 13th team…

    1. The FIA are deliberately taking their time. In order to avoid a repeat of the USF1 incident, the prospective new teams need to start working on their 2011 cars, and their progress will be included as a part of their application. They will not physically build anything, but rather, they will employ designers to draw up plans for the car. Back when USF1 folded, Nick Wirth said they had been accepted in July and signed off on the final design in August – here, the teams had to submit an entry by July and would be assessed in August, so it’s fairly plain that the FIA want to see some effort put into the entry.

  3. that is bad bad news, ART seemed to be the strongest bid. At least all the rumours about Jean Todt trying to advantage his son Nicholas proved to be absolutely rubbish.

    1. Maybe he postponed the announcement to give Nicolas the time to get some money guarantees to hand him the slot, but his son failed to do so.

      But it might just have been ART finding out there is to little time and money to get a car ready Lotus style and no customer car deals are possible, having them drop the bid.

    2. miguelF1O (@)
      7th July 2010, 21:42

      now the only teams left are another spanish hrt and another minardi no sucess

  4. Word in the paddock …HRT is for sale

    1. So you think ART might have a go at buying HRT? But the american Hurley and Co. are looking at a deal to step into a team as well, so it might be interesting to see what the team will be like next year.

      1. But step into HRT? hmmm…

  5. I am glad that ART have decided that to pull out now if they thought it wouldn’t work out, but I do worry for whoever is granted the final grid space for next season.

    If the announcement on the 13th team is not made until next month I think the team will need some serious money behind them with the right management to be ready in time for 2011 and be quick enough to qualify.

    Personally I think it would have been best if they were choosing a team for 2012 now, to give them plenty of time.

  6. Why would any team want to join F1? You cannot test your non-existent car, nor can your new drivers learn the tracks until race day. Then the cherry on the pie is even if you make it race day, you will not participate because of 107% rule.

    ART sees the light imho.

    1. Too true – it’s an absolute nonsense. Lotus, HRT and Virgin have done a remarkable job given the circumstances.

    2. Absolutely agree. It’s like those rules were put in place thinking that F1 is about the established teams only and not taking into consideration any possible new teams.

    3. Absolutely my thoughts – it’s telling that three of the most “likely” candidates – successful, engineering-led, established, well funded operations in the form of Lola, Prodrive and now ART have all declined to take up the “golden opportunity” of taking part in F1.

      These are companies and teams run by experienced people who know what the environment is like, and they’re not prepared to bankrupt themselves, destroy their reputations, or lose focus on their existing, successful operations, to be dillied about by Bernie’s commercial vampire or the FIA’s legendary inability to administrate the simplest aspects of the sport.

  7. Charles Carroll
    7th July 2010, 18:27

    Perhaps its time for Volkswagon to throw their hat into the ring. They could either run as VW, or use Audi or Porche as well.

    I think a Swedish team would be sweet, with Saab chassis and Volvo engines.

    But we’ll probably get another Red Bull team, with another play on the name. Maybe “Rouge Bovine” or something.

    1. HA! I vote for Rouge Bovine for comment of the day.

  8. This could mean a number of things….

    A) ART did not genuinely find the money so called off the plan to enter F1

    B)HRT has agreed to buy the toyota chassis for next year before ART could do the deal. Thus ART had no way of being ready in time given that they did not plan on designing their own car in the first year.

    C) ART is planning on buying a stake in Sauber and thought that was a better investment

    D)ART figured that the selection announcement was taking too long for them to be ready and competitive in time.

    My guess is it is probably a combination of A, B & C.

    This leaves Epsilon and Cypher as the most credible candidates of the lot. Cypher is rumored to be the team that has agreed to field Ferrari supported cars that LDM has been banging about with backing from Parris Mullins and his investment group.

  9. Cat. Amongst. Pigeons.

    Only team that can really do it know is Epsilon, an all they can really do if you ask me, is buy the Toyota’s and develop them, an that won’t be half the proposition it was last year.

    A great shame not to have ART, I was actually looking foward to their precence. Still I think this means that the job must now go to Epsilon and Epsilon have incredible facilities and people, they have the ability to be a credit to F1.

  10. Respect ART’s decision. Good on them for being willing to wait and absolutely sure when they’re ready. It’s the right way to do it although it’s a shame as I’m a big fan of theirs.

    1. The Genuine Jim
      7th July 2010, 20:01

      Steph90, are you talking about the two Virgins there? I agree, they should wait untill they’re ready.

      I’ll get me coat…

      1. No, the two virgins have to wait until the legal disclaimers are signed. I’ve got the paperwork here ready for them.

  11. They should name each new team not for next season, but for 2012. Otherwise, a repeat of last years failed USF1, which not only was a disappointment for the fans and sport but physically affected the lives of its employees.

    1 one year cushion would allow the teams to better prepare, be more competative and overall run better as a Formula 1 team.

    1. Completely agree.

  12. It’s like mentioned, very sad that a new team will only get the news next month. Much to late to get a competitive package out there… If any at all!
    ART would have been a good name for F1 looking at their other teams, but F1 is still another thing to tackle.

  13. I’d be willing to beat a fairly large sum of money on Cypher getting the final place. American team, with an American GP coming up in the coming months. It wouldnt be a suprise… would it?

  14. Of all the teams to drop out, it had to be ART :'(

  15. I don’t watch too many GP2 but looking at that history I think they may have done a better job then the three newbie team is doing this season. But one think is good that we better have a team which is 2-3 second slower then the leader other than someone who is 4-5 second slower.

  16. Having won so much in GP2, they preferred remaining in GP2 where they have a position of top team rather than enter F1 as a backmarker.

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