Prodrive have today confirmed they will not be applying for entry into the 2011 Formula One season, instead, they are looking to concentrate on the World Rally Championship.
In a statement on the Prodrive website, David Richards confirmed his company aren’t looking to enter the sport after two failed attempts, one of which was for the 2010 season.
“Our current focus is on Prodrive’s return to the World Rally Championship in 2011 and that alone takes significant resource to design and develop a totally new car,” said Richards.
He also realised the difficulty in setting up a team from scratch as part of the reason for not entering.
“Taking on the challenge of starting a brand new Formula 1 team, finding the necessary funding and developing the car from scratch is a massive undertaking and not to be under estimated.
“As expected, we’ve witnessed the financial and technical challenges that the new teams have faced this year in just getting to the grid, let alone being competitive and whilst I have enormous admiration for their efforts I don’t believe this is an appropriate strategy for Prodrive or Aston Martin to adopt.
“We’ve enjoyed a successful involvement in F1 in the past and respect the value it can create; we will therefore keep a close eye on developments in the championship.
“However, I have always made it very clear that the timing for a Prodrive entry would be judged on two criteria: that we could be competitive and that the business case would make it a financially viable proposition. Today, if we were to adopt the strategy of starting a new team, I don’t believe it is possible to meet these two conditions.”
