Lola were a consistent presence in the Formula One paddock from the 1960s


Lola is pressing ahead with its plans to enter a team in Formula 1 next season although it is dependent on the introduction of cost-cutting measures.

The racing car constructor, which last raced in 1997, has submitted an application to take part in F1 in 2010.

"The budget cap is prudent, considering the backdrop of global economics," a statement read on the Lola website.

"It also takes into account the need for new teams to be able to compete credibly against established entrants."

F1 teams are set to meet Max Mosley, president of the motorsport's governing body FIA, on Friday to discuss the new proposals for a voluntary £40m budget cap introduced next season.

The cap will give teams operating within it greater technical freedom, but some believe a two-tier championship will be created.

Ferrari, Toyota, Red Bull and Renault are opposed to the idea and have all threatened to quit the sport if Mosley's plan goes ahead.

A raft of measures agreed by the teams and the sport's governing body the FIA in December 2008 should cut the budgets of F1 teams by at least 30% for the 2010 season.

Big savings will be made on engine costs, in-season testing, staff numbers and sharing knowledge on tyres and fuel.

And Lola executive chairman Martin Birrane said: "The announcement that F1 teams may opt for a financially responsible, prudent cost-capped regime from 2010 led us to fully evaluate the opportunity."

Birrane, who bought the Lola group in 1997, said the changes had created the perfect chance for Lola to return to motorsport's blue-riband event.

"The current necessity for Formula 1 to adopt a responsible approach in times of economic uncertainty has created the ideal conditions for us to consider developing a car for the world championship," added the Irish businessman.

Lola has spent the past decade building chassis for a wide range of single-seater categories including the Formula 3, A1GP, Formula 3000 and Formula Nippon championships.

The company already has an F1-standard wind tunnel, computational fluid dynamics capability and a seven-post dynamic chassis rig in its factory.

"Lola possesses the technical resources, capability and know-how to develop cars capable of competing at the very highest levels of international motorsport, including Formula 1," said Birrane.







Excellent news, getting sick and tired of the likes of Ferrari, Red Bull etc complaining. Another manufacturer in the championship.. with more heritage than most of the current teams is a welcome change. Hope it goes through...

Craig as much as I hate to differ with your opinion, it's a damn good thing the likes of Ferrari, Renault and co are kicking up a fuss, do you really want to see a two tier championship, with one group of teams being allowed to do one thing and another group being allowed to do another?

As for racing heritage mate, lets be honest, there is no team in F1 that could ever replace Ferrari if you want to look at it that way. They are F1.

If that truly is the case, then why have they waited for the potential capping before coming forward? Why haven't they been in F1 between '97 and now? You can't tell me it's taken 12 yrs to get to this stage. It's not like they are rank amateurs lets face it.

As for the two tier championship, Bernie Ecclestone has stated categorically that it WON'T happen - but I guess we will have to wait and see.

Be interesting to see if Ferrari go ahead with their threat to sue the FIA through the French courts

Well, the first official Formula One Championship was won by......

ALFA ROMEO
If they came back (Very unlikely) Im sure others would kick up a fuss once again, its just the nature of the sport. Teams dont like change, especialy if they are currently struggling to keep up with current rules and regs...


End of the day, like it or not, the championship is Two maybe Three Tier anyway, and has been for YEARS... You get the top 5 battling for overall, Mid field and then the back, who are always battling for a SINGLE POINT. Thats not how it should be, teams in the top form of motorsport, battling for a single point?

As for Lola, the difference is, they are specifically a Motorsport manufacturer. They also dip thir toes, as it says above, in a number of different formulae. As a result, a lot of money will be delegated to these other formulae, and theyre not prepared to the pay the extravagant over the top prics just to race in F1. Lowering the prices etc will enable new teams to join (Prodrive being one of them) and more young talent to get a chance racing at the top. I can guarantee theres young drivers out there with more talent than a lot of the current F1 drivers (Christiaan Maliepaard, Josef Newgarden, Linton Stutely etc).. so how will these changes not be good ???

Alfa Romeo won't come back, because they are owned by Fiat, just like Ferrari. Of course the two are interlinked because Enzo only started Ferrari thanks to his time and Alfa, so one could say Alfa have a lot more racing heritage... Ferrari did'nt really stand a chance in the first F1 season, they had only been in operation for a couple of years previous.

however, Ferrari have more F1 racing heritage than Alfa or anyone else is ever likely to have. The only comparable team imho, is Williams.

Its only two tier at present because of one thing, and thats money. Besides which, we can hardly call BrawnGP one of the big boys now can we? They have started to address the issues of competitiveness and finances etc, and don't need to bring in this two tier "opt in" system. Either restrict everyone, or leave it as it is.

You could say that it is two tier in football, Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea always scrapping it for number 1, and the rest scrapping it for 5th place onwards. However, they are all playing the same game, and playing to the same rules.

If suddenly some of the RFU rules were bought into play for the lower sides, just to help them compete, would that be fair? Of course not.

For a sport to be a sport, everyone has to play by the same set of rules, no matter who they are and what they represent. This is why time penalties etc exist in racing, to punish those who break the rules. If one team has just one different rule from the others, which either gives them an advantage or leaves them at a disadvantage, then its not a sport its a soap opera.

Tbh, if it happens, it will turn a lot of viewers away from F1, and with an already declining audience, thats not a good thing. Pushing the races out to utter crap circuits in Asia just because the money is good out there, shows how much respect the F1 bosses have for the sport, its fans or its heritage. They don't care whether Ferrari compete or not; however, I think they will realise that if Ferrari, Toyota and Renault all pull out, the amount of sponsorship and interest in the sport will decline rapidly, so I don't think they will be stupid enough to allow it.

Itll be damaged, but similar to the British Touring Cars..

Costs became too high, and only the richest manufacturers competed, Honda, Ford and Vauxhall. They were boring years, and even after all manufacturers except Vauxhall left, it still became boring. Every now and then a manufacturer will join, Seat recently, but once again due to increasing costs theyve dropped out.

Vauxhall have now finally decided to pull the plug on the BTCC, thanks to the Credit Crunch. Basically, we can either let F1 become so expensive that theyll be forced to field 3-4 cars per team with less teams...making the racing boring as anything and losing millions of viewers worldwide, or we can cap the sport, lose 2-3 top teams but introduce others, and slowly but surely build manufacturer support back up. Granted, both will lose viewers, its inevitable... but I know which outcome Id prefer.

IIRC Lola only make Chassis - say they did come back - which engine would they use? Would they run their own team, or just make a chassis available for other teams to buy...?

If the latter is the case, It will only be the smaller teams that will buy the Lola Chassis, as the bigger teams will all develop their own....

To be honest mate, I don't think any major form of Motorsport has a long-term future when you are relying on private constructors to finance the development and running.

Personally, I believe that A1 is a brilliant concept, but it won't take off because people want to support their favoured marques as opposed to their countries.

Hmmmmmmm - I can see both sides I was one of the few that was glad to see the back of Schumacher - yes he was a very talented driver and great to watch, but it opened up the field and made for better viewing IMO.

I loved watching the BTCC (especially the SuperTouring years in the 90's), but WRC was always more exciting for me.

I can see the same split as happened with BSB, WSB & MotoGP happening to F1 if I'm honest.

Well, as you know WENCH, I prefer WRC as well. But Ive not actually enjoyed it since 1999. All but 10 years ago. They are cutting costs as of next year, introducing S2000 regs, and by 2011 or 2012 (one of the two) The WRC as we know it is to be run entirely with S2000 machinery. This is the best thing to have happened for years in rallying, Loeb wont dominate, and the cars will actually need to be driven sideways to go fast.. not find the fastest straightest line....


Going back to what Matty said, Theyve tried a similar concept with Superleague Formula as well..

Racing teams in league with football teams, so the cars are painted in different football liveries.. trying to join the 2 top sports in the world together.

TBH, I dont see that idea lasting much longer than maybe another 2-3 years. Similar to GP Masters, that failed after 2-3 years.

We are experiencing similar problems in Formula Ford. It all boils down to the fact that there are too many lesser formula below F1. The original path up the ladder was Formula Ford, Formula 3, Formula 2 Then F1. Since then, weve had Formula Palmer Audi, Formula BMW, Formula Vee, GP2 and others all joining the fray. There are simply too many different formulas in motorsport as we speak. And its not going to get better either, especially during a recession, more money going into lesser formula, which gives mor drivers the opportunity to race, but makes it harder for anyone to get into the top level.

If we think about it, as an example, cost cutting would make a hell of a difference. In NW Formula Ford, the best drivers will spend £50,000 in a club championship. British Formula Ford will cost £150,000 for the best drives. They are costs that need to come down, especially for the bottom rung of the motorsport ladder, and this can only be done if overall spending is capped tbh..