We are reaching the end of the year, the time to look backwards one more time before we enter 2020. It is the first time I do this article so I will go back until the year 2017 to find out what eventually came from the rumoured teams that were willing to spent millions of dollars to arrive on the grid. There is one interesting case China F1 Racing Team Limited (2017) and Panthera Team Asia F1 (2019) are the same teams. Let’s take a quick look backwards!
Manor MRT 06 (2017)
We have to start with the beautifully constructed Manor MRT06 that would never arrive on the grid. The MRT 06 is one of the few unraced cars I would have loved to seen on the track fighting in the mid field with Force India and Sauber in 2017. The design of the car looked promising and there was put many efforts in the team as well by John Booth to have the team on the grid in 2017. Sadly, it didn’t came that far. The team folded and the assets were sold. Read the story here.
Stefan Grand Prix (2017)
For 2019 Stefan Grand Prix was planned to enter the Formula One, well if we had to believe Zoran Stefanovic his words. Back in the summer of 2017 he told several media outlets he was in contact with Ross Brawn about plans to bring Stefan Grand Prix finally on the grid in 2019. In the meantime, Stefan hired famous designer Enrique Scalabroni to design a car , as he set up facilities previously in Parma, Italy. Ross Brown however said in 2018 that Stefan would not arrive on the grids as team. However, Stefan Grand Prix is one of those rumoured teams that keeps coming back. This story has not been covered yet, but will be soon!
China F1 Racing Team Limited (2017)
One of those rumoured teams to arrive on the grid was the bit shady attempt of China F1 Racing Team Limited. The announcement was made in the summer of 2017 as well and said that they were looking for a debut already in 2018 which seemed a bit to optimistic. Later news pointed for a debut in 2019. I was in the understanding that China F1 bought the assets of the folded Manor team first, however it wasn’t the case. When tracing down Chine F1 Racing Team Limited, I found out that just weeks before a company named “Bronze Fortune Limited” from Michael Orts changed its name to China F1 Racing Team Limited. Later on the name was changed back and nothing was heard any more. Read the story here.
Unknown Chinese F1 attempt (2017)
There were two rumoured teams with Chinese “origin” that appeared in the media. An unknown investment group was looking to enter the Formula One in 2019 or 2020. The plan was to enter the Formula One with a Spanish Formula two team. At that time there were two options Racing Engineering and Campos Racing. No more information came through after the summer.
Up to this day i can’t figure out who was behind it. Read the story here.
Bernie Ecclestone and Brabham (2018)
Yes Bernie Ecclestone announced that he would bring the legendary Brabham team back on the grid in 2019 or 2020. Back then I wasn’t really convinced how serious it was. It seems it was seriously enough. Separately from Bernie’s plan, I spoke with David Brabham earlier If he was interested in a long term entry of the team in the Formula One. His answer was, they would like but it was to expensive to realize. Read the story here.
Panthera Team Asia F1 (2019)
In 2019 three rumoured teams appeared in the news to appear on the grid in either 2020 or 2021. Panthera Team Asia F1 was one of them. If we look back at the China F1 Racing Team Limited Michel Orts appears as well on the documents as registrant of the company. Panthera’s goal is to enter the Formula One in 2021. For now there is still no news to share. They have a facebook page which states they will race in 2021. Let’s hope they will arrive. However, I’m afraid they won’t be on the starting grid at Melbourne 201. Read the story here.
Campos Racing (2019)
Campos racing was one of the rumoured teams to appear on the grid in 2021. Back in 2010 Campos Racing granted an entry on the grid. Before the first race the team already changed its name to HRT as they lacked financial backing. The possible entry for 2021 seems to be more solid. Campos Racing in cooperation with Monaco Increase Management is looking for sponsorship. When the news appeared, the team was said to already have people under contract. Will Campos Racing arrive in 2021, lets hope so! Though I’m afraid they will not. Read the story here.
SMP Racing (2019)
The last rumoured team was SMP Racing. Boris Rotenberg the owner of SMP Racing is looking to set up an Formula One team to debut in 2021. The idea is to have a all-Russian team in the Formula One to bring Russian talent to the Formula One. The foundation is already there to work on their Formula One team. The only problem is that Liberty Media said before that there were no serious talks going on with potential new team. Read the story here.
