SELECCION NUEVOS EQUIPOS F1 (Para Temporada 2011), Para comentar todo el proceso de selección del equipo a entar en 2011 Opciones

[LOGANF1]

Bueno si tiene que haber un nuevo equipo en 2011, espero que sea Epsilon Euskadi...así que para apoyar la causa:

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/...on-aims-for-f1/

Epsilon aims for F1

March 22, 2010 by joesaward

Epsilon Euskadi says that it will be bidding for the 13th available Formula 1 franchise. The team was involved in a bid last year but lost out to Campos (now HRT), USF1, Manor (now Virgin Racing) and Lotus. This was surprising given the impressive facilities that the team has built close to Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital city of the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in northern Spain.

The team is owned and run by Joan Villadelprat, who says that he was stuck in a classic chicken and egg situation last year as the FIA wanted proof of the teams financing and his sponsor wanted the guarantee of an entry before making a commitment.

From Barcelona, Joan first encountered F1 at Montjuich Park in 1971 and he immediately decided that he wanted to get involved. He worked for a while in the under-developed Spanish racing scene before joining the Equipo Nacional Espanol, a team that had been designed to promote young talent in Spain. The drivers were Fermin Velez and Jordi Caton and they raced Ralts in international Formula 3, against future stars such as Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Derek Warwick. The money eventually ran out and Villadelprat moved on to the team that had impressed him the most in Britain an operation called Project Four Racing, run by a young Ron Dennis. For the next eight years he worked for Dennis, switching to McLaren when Marlboro engineered a merger between the old F1 team and Denniss ambitious young operation. Those were great years with the McLaren-TAG combination winning three straight Drivers titles with Niki Lauda and Alain Prost. In 1987 former McLaren technical director John Barnard lured Villadelprat away to Ferrari, where he became chief mechanic. At the end of 1989 he was recruited by Tyrrell as team manager but after a promising season in 1990, the team had a disappointing year and Joan was then hired by Benetton. He quickly became Operations Director and went on to oversee two World Championship titles for Michael Schumacher in 1994 and 95. He stayed on until the start of 2000 but then went home to Spain with the aim of setting up his own F1 team in Barcelona. When sponsor Telefonica decided against the plan, Joan joined Prost Grand Prix as Managing Director. It would be a short-lived job. The team went out of business at the start of 2002 and once again Joan went back to Spain to embark on a new project. He formed an alliance with Frances Epsilon Sport to run a project in the Nissan World Series in Spain. The team was given the name Epsilon Euskadi and it was soon very competitive. In 2005 it won the series, which had been rebadged as the Renault World Series, with a young driver called Robert Kubica. Villadelprat then bought out his partners and teamed up with his old driver Caton, and Epsilon has been quietly expanding ever since.

Villadelprats policy has been not only to aim for F1 but also to lay the groundwork for future Spanish teams.

Since we started Epsilon we have taken three or four guys each year from the technical high school and trained them to be mechanics, he says. If they have the right attitude, then we keep them. Now we have a Masters degree course, which is linked to Mondragon University. This is for graduate engineers who want to be involved in motorsport. So we are training new engineers all the time. That is part of the process. From the beginning of the project we were aiming to combine high technology and innovation with racing, education and an industrial element as well. When we started out in 2003, we bought one team and we slowly grew. We had young guys and we needed funding for their ambitions. The Spanish Ministry of Innovation was interested and offered suitable business loans to aid the development process. You apply and you get very good conditions. You get 15-year loans at very reasonable interest rates. We have two of those from the Spanish government. The local Basque authority was also interested and was looking to invest European Union money to create research and have things for them to do so we started another team. Then we said that we wanted to show the world that we could be a constructor. We did not have what we needed to do that and so we started thinking of how it could be achieved. We were not thinking about F1 at all. We wanted to build a suitable facility that could do all the things that we want to do.

Villadelprat and Caton recruited top engineers Sergio Rinland and Henri Durand while also looking at ways to get government development facilities in its region.

When we decided to build a sportscar for the Le Mans 24 Hours we began to look for customers and we had some lined up. Obviously the recession came along and the orders disappeared. We had the old factory but we broke ground on the new one in February 2008. At that time the whole world was not collapsing and the idea was to look at markets apart from Formula 1. There are lots of other categories and when you look at it there are only a handful of companies who can manufacture racing cars. We would like to have a percentage of that market.

The Epsilon factory has cost around $60m to build and includes everything that a motor racing company could need, including a 60 percent scale rolling road wind tunnel.

At the back of my mind I figured that the facility could one day be used for Formula 1, Villadelprat admits. If one day the sun and the moon are in alignment and there is a chance to go to F1 then we would take it. Although the recession slowed things down, as one door closed another opened.

What we have been doing is to slowly show people what is possible, he says. I started out when a guy wanted to set up a Nissan World Series team and wanted to get money from the government and asked me to be a consultant. From there we were able to convince them to help us create an industry. It started with the school for mechanics and engineers and was followed by teams and drivers. Then we created the Le Mans car, which was a product that we could sell, and now we are building a manufacturing base. We are creating an industry. Maybe it is not the right time to do this, but we cannot stop. We need to push on. I dont know how long it will take, but one day we will be there in F1. I am convinced of that. We have the facility, the people, the know-how, the means and the tools to do that.

Finding money for motorsport in Spain has never been easy, but Joan says that it is a very different story to find money for F1 rather than for the Le Mans 24 Hours.

We have Alonso, he says. We have two Grands Prix. We have circuits and we have a lot of testing in the winter. F1 is important in Spain. It is really hard to get a penny for Le Mans, although it was a tremendous thing last year that for the first time a Spanish driver Marc Gene has won there. That got a lot of media coverage but we were there with the first Spanish-built car ever to race at Le Mans and no-one noticed. Pegaso did enter some cars back in the 1950s but they never qualified.

Although the Epsilon did not figure strongly in the race, it was the source of enormous pride for Villadelprat.

It is a question of mentality and education. I dont know if it is politically correct to say it, but people in Spain do not think that we can do the things that we are doing. They think that we must have bought the wind tunnel second-hand rather than having built it ourselves. They think that you cannot do these things in Spain. That is what they do in England and in Germany, but not in Spain. We need to change that mentality. I spent years in some high places in F1 but it was never really noticed. Now things are changing, but maybe it is a question of timing. Maybe I was born too early.

You have to open your mind and look at the opportunities out there, he continues. We have had windmills being developed in the tunnel and we did a project also to improve the efficiency of the football. We have other projects with customers in racing and with car manufacturers. Right now in Spain there are three or four roadcar projects we are helping. They are not very well known yet. We are open to any kind of business. We spent six or seven months developing the 2009 sportscar design so we will have to see what happens. We are talking to possible customers, but that largely depends on the economy.

The important thing is that we keep going forwards. We have tremendous potential. We have people like Sergio and Henri, both of whom have enormous experience. We have a lot of good people. We can design and manufacture cars from Formula Ford to Formula 1.

If you ask him about the people who have influenced him in his career, Joan is very clear.

Ron Dennis, he says immediately. I admire him. He has been tremendous. I can call him a friend and he has always helped me. We have had fights too, particularly when I was running Benetton and he was at McLaren. People do not realise what he has done, starting from where he started. Not many people in the world have done that. I admire his way of thinking and his attention to detail. I believe in the same things. I had the good luck to be with him for seven years and I learned a lot. Sure, he has his negative points too but he taught me to work in an ordered fashion. When I went to Ferrari the team was a disaster. The youngest race mechanics were 50 plus and I was a 30-year old Spaniard trying to get them to change. I was the first foreigner to be the chief mechanic. I think I did a good job there.

John Barnard really helped me to understand mechanical things. He taught me to find out the reasons for things, step by step, so that one could understand the problems. If I am a good mechanic, it is thanks to him. I moved to Tyrrell and we had some good people there, with Harvey Postlethwaite, Jean-Claude Migeot and we had a good year with very little money, so I got the experience of working with a lot of money and then working with very little. When I went to Benetton I was really running the team. I designed it, employed the people, created the team spirit. It was different to other teams. Flavio Briatore does not understand much, but if he trusts you he lets you do what you want. I learned from the mistakes I made there. After that I went to Prost and I found out how to lose. It was really lost before I got there, but they had everything that they needed apart from management. So what you see here is a result of a little bit of everything.

The Epsilon factory is mightily impressive. It has been designed with all the departments in the right places, with plenty of space and light. It is huge and includes not only all the manufacturing and race team areas but also an upstairs section which not only houses offices but also allows people to see the whole facility below, without interfering with the way it is run. If there are visitors, they need not be disruptive. And it has been cleverly thought through. All the extraneous machinery has cunningly been hidden away inside the outer shell of the structure so that there is none of the clutter that one sees at so many F1 factories that have evolved over the years. Upstairs there is also the area where the Masters degree is taught. Villadelprat aims to produce graduates from the course who will be capable of running not only his operations but also teams of their own. It is a broad and impressive vision.

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Las instalaciones son impresionantes, ahora queda recopilar los apoyos que segun Villadelprat tenía asegurados para 3 años.El éxito que pueda tener en la concrección de esos apoyos `puede depender de lo que haga este años el Hispania.Si logran terminar como el 10º equipo, se animarán a invertir en mayor medida que si termina el último.
Por otra parte, algo más tendrá que aportar además de las instalaciones para que la FIA esta vez sí, escoja su proyecto.Prodrive y Lola son 2 fuertes compañías con experiencia en esto.Y los restos del equipo Toyota están ahí, así que o Lola o Prodrive seguro que los compran.La cosa no sólo va a depender de las instalaciones, así que sería aconsejable que no lo volviera a jugar todo a esta baza...

[tenista]

http://www.as.com/motor/articulo/epsilon-s...asdaimot_6/Tes#

Entrevista a Joan Villadelprat

Mas claro, el agua......de momento toca esperar y no pinta nada bien.

[Ayrton_Hill]

Yo creo que no va a haber ningún equipo nuevo.

[monza2001]

Yo creo que no va a haber ningún equipo nuevo.

La maFIA lo está haciendo muy bien para que así sea dejando para septiembre la decisión.

Saludos

[cocahola]

El hecho de que Epsilon lleve tanto tiempo trabajando en el coche de F1 (con pruebas del modelo en el tunel de viento incluidas) me hace pensar que, cuando tengan el presupuesto atado, la FIA tomará una decisión y será la de elegirlos a ellos.

[Sauber 2010]

No era hoy el dia en que dirian el nuevo equipo?

[Brian Syrup]

En TV3 (donde comenta Viladelprat) hubo un momento de diálogo entre Merlos y Viladelprat al estilo Pedro-Lobato-y los motores híbridos, en el que Merlos le bromeó si ya se veía en HRT, a lo que Viladelpart contestó, medio riendo "no, todavía, no".

Sólo una curiosidad.

[Ayrton_Hill]

En TV3 (donde comenta Viladelprat) hubo un momento de diálogo entre Merlos y Viladelprat al estilo Pedro-Lobato-y los motores híbridos, en el que Merlos le bromeó si ya se veía en HRT, a lo que Viladelpart contestó, medio riendo "no, todavía, no".

Sólo una curiosidad.

Eso lo comenté yo también en el irc xD.

[lemec]

¿alguien sabe algo?

[`]

The FIA has announced that none of the organisations bidding to become Formula 1's 13th team in 2011 have met its requirements, and that the grid will therefore stay at 24 cars.

The governing body had invited applications from parties interested in filling the slot left vacant by the collapse of the US F1 project on the eve of the 2010 season.

Several teams put in applications, including a partnership between former world champion Jacques Villeneuve and Italian ex-GP2 team Durango, plus a new bid from rejected 2009 applicant Epsilon Euskadi.

But the FIA World Motor Sport Council decided in a meeting today that none of the applicants were suitable.

"Following the press release of 19 March 2010 calling for expressions of interest to participate in the 2011 and 2012 seasons of the FIA Formula One World Championship, a number of interested parties expressed their interest," said an FIA statement.

"It was considered that none of the candidates met the requirements to be granted an entry into the championship.

"Consequently, the allocation of the 13th team will not be granted."

A number of candidates for the entry withdrew their applications during the process, including multiple GP2 and Formula 3 champion squad ART and new American organisation Cypher Group.

Others considered to be potential F1 entrants declined to participate, including Prodrive and Lola, both of which had made attempts to join the world championship in previous years.

The three outfits that entered F1 as part of last year's new team application processes - Hispania, Lotus and Virgin - have all yet to score or to regularly threaten the established midfield squads.

[Pdr_cadiz]

Lo acaban de confirmar en la Sexta que no habra 13º equipo la proxima temporada.

[tenista]

Quizas esto mismo, deberian haberlo hecho el año pasado.......

Al menos, este han acertado.

[monza2001]

Lo previsto viendo el esperpento que ha rodeado a los nuevos de este año.

Saludos

[Mike]

Para mi una mala noticia, me hubiese gustado ver de qué era capaz Epsilon Euskadi, además de ser una posible opción para Pedro si falla Sauber.

[Nivola]

Pues sí, Mike, una mala noticia...siempre que tengamos un equipo con aunque sean pocas opciones, y por lo que sea, estas no se confirmen o se pierda esa posibilidad, no puede ser sino una mala noticia...opciones siempre son opciones, aunque sean escasas, y minimas siempre sera mas que ninguna...

Saludos

[kurtco]

Ademas de un asiento como posibilidad para Pedro, un asiento donde poder ubicar a los que vienen sonando fuerte para el año que viene, sin que sea en sauber...

[Ayrton_Hill]

Estaba cantado.

[RockyBalboa]

Veremos una posible alianza entre Carabante-Villadelprat????

[`]

<h2 id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_lblFechalblTitulo">08/09/2010 - ENTREVISTA - JOAN VILLADELPRAT</h2> Tras meses de incertidumbre, la Federación Internacional de Automovilismo (FIA) acaba de anunciar su decisión de dejar vacante la decimotercera licencia de Formula 1 para el 2011. Licencia para la que Epsilon había presentado su candidatura. Joan Villadelprat, Presidente de Epsilon, comenta la tan esperada decisión de la FIA.


Pregunta: Ha sido una larga espera pero finalmente se ha anunciado el resultado de la adjudicación de la 13ª licencia para Formula 1. ¿Cómo valora usted la decisión de la FIA?

Joan Villadelprat: Ante todo decir que respetamos la decisión de la FIA de dejar vacante la licencia. Si ellos, que son los que tienen toda la información de todas las candidaturas, han decidido que es la mejor opción, será porque lo es. Como opinión personal, creo que es mejor dejarla vacante a tener un equipo que, dados los plazos y las exigencias, sería prácticamente imposible que pudiera estar listo para 2011. Sabíamos que iba a ser muy difícil que se decantaran por nosotros ya que, como siempre he mantenido, todavía no contamos con el capital garantizado. Sin ese capital es imposible llevar a buen puerto un proyecto de F1. Y sin ese capital tampoco nosotros nos hubiéramos querido comprometer. Tenemos unas instalaciones y un equipo humano ideales para Formula 1 y seguiremos trabajando para estar ahí antes o después.

P: ¿Por qué cree que han tomado la decisión de dejar la plaza vacante?

JV: Repito que si la FIA se ha decantado por esa opción tendrá sus motivos. El porqué no se lo puedo contestar yo, ya que sería entrar en especulaciones que no debo. Sólo la FIA disponía de toda la información para tomar la mejor decisión y si esto es lo que han considerado mejor, es porque lo será.

P: ¿Qué diferencias hay entre la candidatura que presentó Epsilon en 2009 y la de este año?

JV: La candidatura de este año era la misma que la del 2009 pero más asentada, más completa. En 2009 todavía no estábamos instalados en la nueva sede y le faltaba un rodaje que ahora sí tenemos. Este año también hemos avanzado en lo referente al modelo y al equipo humano. La candidatura presentada este año era todavía mejor que la del anterior, pero le faltaba algo que el año pasado teníamos garantizado: la completa financiación.

P: ¿Y por qué el año pasado sí estaba y este no?

JV: Porque el año pasado teníamos unos inversores que no hemos podido recuperar para éste. Que ahora no lo tengamos no significa que no podamos tenerlo en un plazo corto o medio de tiempo. Y en cuanto esté se podrán plantear otros escenarios.

P: ¿Considera que se ha perdido el tiempo?

JV: Para nada! Todo lo que hemos hecho tenía un fin principal, que era adelantarnos para tratar de estar listos si nos adjudicaban la licencia. Eso no ha sucedido, pero todo el trabajo que se ha hecho hasta ahora nos ha servido para ganar y seguir acumulando experiencia y know how en el sector. El sector automovilístico y de competición es nuestro ADN, pero también trabajamos en otras industrias que se benefician de nuestros avances y experiencia.

P: Sin esta licencia para competir en Formula 1 ¿cómo afronta Epsilon el futuro?

JV: La Formula 1 es uno de nuestros objetivos, pero no el único. Y esta licencia era una entrada directa, pero tampoco la única. Epsilon seguirá adelante con sus proyectos industriales y automovilísticos. Y entre estos proyectos está el de Formula 1 porque es la máxima expresión de competición automovilística y tecnología, principios básicos de la compañía. Pero no es el único, así que mientras trabajamos una nueva oportunidad, seguiremos con nuestros proyectos educativos, de competición, de fabricación y de I+D.

P: ¿Quiere decir que valora usted otras opciones de entrar en Formula 1?

JV: Como he dicho, la 13ª licencia era una vía pero no es la única para entrar en Formula 1. Sin duda valoramos otras opciones y estas pueden ser muy diversas. Estamos hablando de opciones que todavía no se han dado, pero como he dicho antes, nosotros seguiremos trabajando tanto el apartado de financiación como el de desarrollo para estar preparados cuando estas opciones se presenten.


Fuente: Epsilon

[Stuko]

Ni para 2011 ....ni para 2012

FIA: No new teams for 2011

[murra]

Los aspirantes de este año han pagado la chapuza del año pasado