David Richards, the boss of Prodrive, has condemned the new teams for ruining the chances of any new entrant raising the funds to enter the sport.
He himself successfully secured a slot on the grid in 2008, however a challenge by the Williams team and the use of customer chassis’s led to him pulling out.
He later applied for the current 2010 season but was beaten of by Lotus, Virgin, Hispania and the failed USF1 outfit. It’s thought his plans to use Mercedes engines instead of Cosworth was the deciding factor in the FIA’s selection process, despite having secured £40+ million in backing.
In an interview with MotorSport magazine, the 58-year-old says raising such funds is nigh on impossible thanks to the performance of the three newcomers.
“What [the new teams] have done is disillusion anyone of the idea that you could at all be competitive and it has also prejudiced raising funds,” he said.
“The performance of the new teams has harmed that ability, everyone had a dream, and I am sure Richard Branson had a dream a year ago, that starting a new team would somehow challenge the establishment well, we never believed that.”
Up until now, few people have questioned the pace of the new teams. Luca di Montezemolo and Bernie Ecclestone being the only major sporting figures to do so.
Richards though has added his voice. He believes the close title battle has drawn attention away from the back-markers poor pace.
“Had [the close title battle] not been the case, we might have by mid-year started to see the recriminations and people starting to question what is going on at the back of the grid.”
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