YOUR 2003 Formula One Team

[DNQ]

Here is the scenario - you've just made some good financial decisions, own several mulitnational companies, and have a lot of cash on your hands, and decide to do a Paul Stoddart, and start your own Formula 1 team.

How would you go about it for an entry in 2003? You can choose any drivers not contracted out for next year, unless you think you can do a deal with a top team to buy them out of their contract. Same goes for team personnal. You're budget is mid-range, on par with Sauber or Jordan. You must choose an engine, drivers, team personnel, sponsors, test track, country to base from etc.

As far as engines go, you'll be most likely limited to a customer deal. Keep it real - this thread isn't a fantasy F1 thread - it's a 'if i had stacks of cash and started an F1 team' thread.

My Team

Name: Coca-Cola Team Russell Cosworth
Major Sponsor: Coca-Cola
Engine: Cosworth (customer deal)
Tyres: Michelins
Petrol: Mobil
Number One Driver: Alexander Wurz
Number Two Driver: Justin Wilson
Test Driver: Sebastien Bourdais, Gaston Mazzacane*
Young Driver Program: James Courtney, Marcel Costa
Country: Britain
Test Track: Silverstone
Technical Directors Sergio Rinland, Mike Coughlan
Bloke in Charge/Team Principle: Scott Russell
Other Categories: Australian V8 Supercar Team (Drivers: Wayne Wakefield, Tomas Mezera)

*Good Cash Cow to Milk

[f1manoz]

Oooh, this sounds like fun:

Team Name: DBR Team International (Guess what DBR stands for?)
Sponsor: Jim Beam Distilleries
Minor sponsor: Slazenger
Engine: Probably go for Cosworth, but if I could persuade Mugen/Honda, I'd go with them
Tyres: Goodyear! Well, if they do return, I'd go with them. If not, then Michelin
Fuel: Agip
Number One Driver: Nick Heidfeld
Number Two Driver: Mark Webber
Test Driver: Rob Nyugen
Country: Australian (but based in Britain)
Test Track: Catalunya/Silverstone
Important personnel: No idea. I'd have to steal Rinland from you though Scott If not, I'd eventually find someone.
Team principal: Me a.k.a Benjamin Lowe
Other categories: F3000 team, known as DBR Jr. Racing (Drivers would be Tomas Enge and Rob Nguyen)

[Jordi]

Name: Player's/Domenech Racing
Sponsor: Player's (would be cool)

Car: Domenech D1
Engine: Rebadged Ferraris
Tyres: Michelin
Fuel: Shell

Car #24: Jacques Villeneuve (I'm rich so I'll pay him twice of what he earns at BAR)
Car #25: Oriol ServiÃ*
Test and Young drivers: no test drivers, money is spent on Ferrari and JV

Country: Catalonia
Test track: Barcelona
Team principal: Jordi Domenech
Tech Directors: Joan Viladelprat

[steve_r]

Name: Coopers Creosote Racing
Sponser: Coopers Creosote
Engine: Ford Capri
Tyres: Bridgestone
Fuel: 4*
Driver 1: Jos Verstappen
Driver 2: Nigel Mansell (lets start another comeback rumor)
Test Driver: Micheal Schumacher (Well, it would give hime somthing to do in his spare time when he has retired)

Country: Ibiza
Test Track: Tesco's Car Park

[Lee Janotta]

Name: GPA Racing, unless I can get the rights to Lotus
Primary Sponsor: Delphi, GMAC
Associate Sponsors: Apple Computer, UPS, probably Red Bull

Car: The previous season's McLaren, if the shared chassis proposal is adopted.
Engine: The best deal I can get, hopefully BMW or Toyota, probably Asiatech, rebadged as Vortech V-10.
Tires: Goodyear if they're interested, otherwise Michelin
Fuel: Sunoco

Driver #1: Jacques if I can get him, otherwise Justin Wilson
Driver #2: Gunnar Jeanette
Test Driver: Johnny Herbert?
Developing Drivers: Danica Patrick, AJ Allmendinger

Country: USA
Test tracks: Watkins Glen, Indianapolis, Virginia International Raceway

Personell: Probably Dan Gurney as Technical Director to act as a figurehead and encourage the small technical team, a lot of CART guys probably, as it'd be a customer chassis.
Team Principal: Me, Lee Janotta
Other Categories: American LeMans LMP900 with a Cadillac, Toyota Atlantic? Constantly bugging General Motors top execs to make it a full works team.
Paint Scheme: Black carbon fiber with a single clearcoat, sponsors logos laid atop that.

[freeze]

Ladies and Gents, let's go racing!

Team: Doo-Aero Racing
Main Sponser: Bombardier Intl.
Secondary sponser: Molson Brewaries, Telus.
Colors: Yellow with a touch of black.

Chassis: Dallara.
Engine: Renault rebadged "Infiniti".
Tyres: Bridgestone.
Fuel/Oil: Elf.
Communications/Data: The Telus Group.

Technical Director: Tony Southgate.
Head Designer: M. Durand (ex. Prost).
Team Manager: Paul Stewart.

Drivers: Fernando Alonzo and Ian Magnusson.
Test driver and racing consultant: Jean Alesi.
Support Team - F3 Euro: American Aaron Justus and canadian Marc Antoine Camirand.

Based at beautiful Road Atlanta, Georgia.

[Number Juan]

i dunno wether to sell out to tobacco or legit. companies...

Name: Mastercard Squirell Renault
Title Sponsor: Mastercard
Other Sponsors: Gillette, Phillips and Grolsch
Colours: Orange, Red and Blue

Chassis: The Squirellesque Chassis (otherwise known as the Sauber chassis)
Engine: Renault
Tyres: Bridgestone
Fuel: Shell
Brakes: Brembo
Electronics: TAG
Communications: string and tin cans

Drivers:
Driver 1: Jos Verstappen
Driver 2: Justin Wilson
Test Driver: Eddie Irvine

Directors: The most easily corruptable designers that would leave their post for money.

Based at: Barcelona

Testing at: Barcelona, Silverstone, Valencia and Hungaroring

Catering: Marks and Spencers

Clothing: Vans

[Gt_R]

Name: Evoq F1
Sponsors: Sony, Boeing, SIA, Creative, National University of Singapore, Martini, Warner Bros, Autosport (considering the power of media, i need one on my side ), Nokia, DBS bank, ESPN

Chassis: DY-2003 (designed/built in house)
Engine: Customer Ferrari V10, while trying to do a works deal with VW or Hyundai
Tires: Bridgestones (developement partner)
Fuel: Shell (developement partner)

Driver #1: Juan Pablo Montoya (his contract runs out this year, decides to take the challenge of building up a new team)
Driver #2: Nick Heidfeld/Fisichella
Test/Developing Drivers: James Courtney, Michael Keohane

Base Country: Singapore
Test tracks: Sepang, Catalunya

Technical Director: Mike Coughlan (decides that working for Ron is BS)
Chief Designer: Sergio Rinland
Commercial Manager: Ian Phillips

Team Principal: Me

[Mr V]

Name.......V F1
Sponsers......Oakley, Pepsi, McDonalds
Car Colour...Iridiam
Chassis......McLaren
Engine.......BMW
Tyres........Pirelli
Fuel.........Q8
Drivers......Juan Pablo Montoya & Michael Schumacher
Test Drivers.None (who needs em when i got these 2!)

Test Tracks..Silverstone and Monza

Designer.....Adrian Newey
Master Tactician...Ross Brawn
Team Principal....Me (of course!)

No team orders allowed in my team!

[freud]

OK, heres the plan...

I am buying Minardi from Paul Stoddart.
I have grabbed the best sponsorship package from US [managed to put Juan Pablo & Sato in my driver's lineup and presented them to US & Japanese sponsors]
I got BMW engines and kicked Ron's ass by paying Adrian Newey 10 million bucks... Sato brings in Bridgestone, SONY & Camel.


Name.......Minardi BMW
Sponsers......Capital One, BMW, IBM, AT&T, Dunkin Donuts, Michelin, Microsoft, SONY, Camel,
Car Colour...Blue & Red
Chassis......Adrian Newey designed
Engine.......BMW
Tyres........Bridgestone
Fuel.........Q8
Drivers......Juan Pablo Montoya & Takuma Sato
Test Driver....Johnny Herbert

Test Track...Valencia
Team Principal....Adrian Newey

[Kex]

What a great thread!

Name: Sonic-F1
Sponsors: Sprite, Squaresoft, 02, John Smith's.
Engine: Rolls-Royce (highly developed).
Team Colours: Green-Blue (much like the Jordan of 1991).
Tyres: Goodyear.
Fuel: Elf.
Chassis: Own design.
Team Principal (Big Boss): Me, naturally.
Engineering Director: Patrick Head.
Head of Design: Adrian Newey (who else?)

Driver 1: Giancarlo Fisichella
Driver 2: Kimi Raikkonen
Test Driver 1: Justin Wilson
Test Driver 2: Me (just for the fun of it).

Team Base: The flat bit of Lincolnshire
Test Tracks: Purpose-built circuit next to team base, Donington, Silverstone.

[David McManus]

Extract from post which was Originally posted by freud

Sponsers......Capital One, BMW, IBM, AT&T, Dunkin Donuts, Michelin, Microsoft, SONY, Camel,
Tyres........Bridgestone

Interesting combination - Michelin sponsorship with Bridgestone tyres. Can't see that working out!

Edited as my spelling's gone to pot this morning!

[calais]

in oz we have v8 supercars who use dunlop tyres, but are sponsored by bridgestone................

[Yoong Montoya]

I'm going for a full manufacturer team.

NAME: 7up Asiatech Grand Prix
MAIN SPONSORS: 7up, Shell
TEAM COLOUR: Green
TYRES: Michelin
FUEL: Shell
DRIVER 1: Juan Pablo Montoya
DRIVER 2: Rubens Barrichello
TEST DRIVER 1: Alexander Wurz
TEST DRIVER 2: Justin Wilson
COUNTRY: Japan
TEST TRACKS: Suzuka and Aida
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: Sergio Rinland

The easiest way would be to buy the Minardi team from Paul Stoddart to use as a base, especially since they already use Asiatech engines.

[freud]

Originally posted by David McManus


Interesting combination - Michelin sponsorship with Bridgestone tyres. Can't see that working out!

Edited as my spelling's gone to pot this morning!

Sorry about that... I would replace Michelins with Bridgestone.

[DNQ]

Mr V, tell me how your 'mid budget' team will be able to pay the contracts of Michael Schumacher, Juan Montoya, Adrian Newey AND Ross Brawn

[Big Mac]

This would be a fair line up, I think:

Fosters BMW Brabham Grand Prix Engineering

(Does anybody know who owns the rights to the name of Brabham?)

My drivers would be Mark Weber and Jenson Button with Jean Alesi as test driver. Powered by BMW (Restoring the links made back in the 1980’s) on the delightfully sticky Goodyear tyres (welcome back). Proudly sponsored by Fosters, BMW, Yellow Pages, QANTAS (basically any good Aussie company with half a brain)in a sparkling blue, white, yellow and red paint job.

Based at the Donington Motorsport Park.
(A good track that really deserves more)

Now back to reality!

[M Webber]

He is the winning team!



Name.......Austech Racing
Sponsors......(main)QANTAS, BMW (other), IBM, AT&T, Pepsi, Michelin, Microsoft, SONY, Elf,Nokia, Telstra,Fosters
Car Colour...Blue & Yellow with RED
Chassis......Adrian Newey designed
Engine.......BMW
Tyres........Michelin
Fuel.........Elf
Drivers......Mark Webber & Jaq Vill
Test Driver....James Cortney & Ryan Briscoe
Team Base ..... Australia
Test Track...Phillip Island & Sepang
Team Principal....Ross Brawn & ME
Team Offshoots ... F3 & F3000

[freeze]

I thought we had to go with people without a valid contrat on an F1 team?

[calais]

my team: Calais Racing
sponsors: philip morris {ive made them rich already!!}
chassis: adrian newey
engine: BMW
tyres: michelin
fuel : mobil
driver 1: montoya
driver 2: TFG {who will be contractually obliged to let montoya through}
test driver: halfie {thats all he's good for}
test track: eastern creek {close to home}
team PR : wrex {because he's always full of s.......}
team principal : ME!!!!!

[bart_jacobs]

If i had loads and loads money than i would ask Astromega to join me in my F1 project.
Name: Team Astromega
Title Sponsor:Remus
Other Sponsors:Sutton-images,Facom
Colours: white

Chassis: TA/01 build in association with Lola,who are eager to do much better.
Engine: Mercedes
Tyres: Michelin
Fuel: Shell
Brakes: Brembo
Electronics: TAG
Communications: Kenwood

Drivers:
Driver 1: Giorgio Pantano
Driver 2: Rob Nguyen
Test Driver: Mario Haberfeld and Bart Jacobs (it's my team,so it's also my car)

Directors: Bart Jacobs
Manager: Sam Boyle
Based at: Heist-o/d-Berg
Testing at: Spa,Valencia,Barcelona,e.a
Catering: Frituur het klaverke

Clothing: Snickers

[DNQ]

Originally posted by freeze
I thought we had to go with people without a valid contrat on an F1 team?

Correct. Original Post by me

You can choose any drivers not contracted out for next year, unless you think you can do a deal with a top team to buy them out of their contract.

[Neil C]

I'd buy Jaguar, (they may be a bargain right now)put Jackie Stewart in charge and hire Jos Verstappen and PDLR.

[Daisy]

Name: Formula Racing
Sponsors: Elf, HP, Red Bull, Leaseplan, Mastercard
Engine: Renault
Tyres: Michelins
Petrol: Elf
Number One Driver: Jenson Button
Number Two Driver: Fernando Alonso
Test Driver: Augusto Farfus, Heikki Kovelainen, Ryan Briscoe, James Courtney
Young Driver Program: Augusto Farfus, Heikki Kovelainen, Ryan Briscoe, James Courtney
Country: Britain
Test Track: Silverstone
Main Personens: Frank Williams, Patrick Head, Andrian Newey

[Mr V]

Originally posted by DNQ
Mr V, tell me how your 'mid budget' team will be able to pay the contracts of Michael Schumacher, Juan Montoya, Adrian Newey AND Ross Brawn

Well, as my team would be the best out there, they'd all want to drive/work for free!

(don't forget, i'm saving on the test drivers fee!