Epsilon Euskadi not giving up on F1

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Epsilon Euskadi president Joan Villadelprat says he “respects” the FIA’s decision not to grant a place to his team for 2011, but the team may yet find another way to get into F1.

In an interview on the team’s website he said:

First of all, I would like to say that we respect the FIA’s decision of not granting the allocation of the 13th license. If, having all the information about the candidates, they decided that this is the best option is because it must be.

As a personal opinion, I think that it is best to leave it vacant rather than having a team that, given the deadlines and requirements, would almost be impossible to be ready for 2011. We knew it would be very difficult for us to be chosen since, as I always said, we still don’t have the economic package granted.

Without this capital it would be unfeasible to carry out the F1 project that we want. And without this capital neither would we commit ourselves to do it. We have the ideal facilities and work force for Formula 1 and we will keep working to get there sooner or later.
Joan Villadelprat

Despite failing to gain a place in F1 for the second year in a row he believes the application the team put forward this year was stronger than their 2009 effort:

This year’s was the same than 2009 but improved; more settled and complete. In 2009 we weren’t yet established at the new headquarters and we were missing the mileage that we currently have.

This year we also moved forward with the model and the human team. This candidacy was even better than 2009 one, the only thing we were missing was the financing, which we had last year.
Joan Villadelprat

As rumours link Epsilon Euskadi to struggling outfit HRT, Villadelprat did not rule out some other kind of involvement in F1 in the future:

The 13th license was one way but not the only one to get into Formula 1. We definitely consider other possibilities, which can be very different.

We are talking about options that haven’t occurred yet but, I repeat, we will keep working both on the financial and development packages to be ready for when these options may come up.
Joan Villadelprat

Read more: No 13th F1 team in 2011

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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18 comments on “Epsilon Euskadi not giving up on F1”

  1. Perhaps they are waiting for a current team to fold and buy?

    1. I’d say they have a good chance then! :P

  2. FIA have learnt the lesson taught by USF1’s failure, and want to avoid a similar mistake.

    1. sounds good, but actually by postponing the decision to this late a date and reintroducing the 107% rule they have been very active in making it impossible for any team to fit their criteria in the first place.

      Why didn’t they just get this out in the open a few months ago. Everyone would have understood that.

  3. Charles Carroll
    8th September 2010, 20:40

    The team formerly known as Virgin perhaps?

    1. Virgin have said they’r not going anywhere – and they resent claims that they won’t last.

      1. Charles Carroll
        9th September 2010, 1:32

        Somehow I believe that Richard Branson does not give a cent what I have to say about his racing team.

        1. I’m not talking about Richard Branson – I’m talking about John Booth and Nick Wirth and Timo Glock and everyone involved in the actual team.

          1. Charles Carroll
            9th September 2010, 3:09

            I don’t think they give a cent about what I say concerning Virgin Racing either.

            That said, I’m still not sure they will make it to the end of the year.

          2. Despite the fact that they’ve caught up with Lotus?

  4. Hopefully they’ll go back on their denials and team up with HRT.

  5. Certainly sounds like they’re hinting at a merger with HRT. If it shored up the team’s future I’d be all for it. Then maybe they could drop Sack-o’ Money-oto in favour of Chandhok who drove much more favorably in comparison to Senna, and should be on the grid for the inaugural Indian GP.

  6. I really hope they can get in next year, but I suspect waiting to 2013 is a smarter option due to the changes. It’s good that everyone has been realistic about it.

    Of the two large decisions taken lately, this one has been down to earth, realistic, and hasn’t been surrounded by propaganda.

  7. Jacques Villeneuve isn’t giving up, either:

    http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=385864&FS=F1

    The logical progress would be for Epsilon to buy Hispania as they’re both Spanish and for Durango to buy Toro Rosso seeing as how they’re both Italian, even if they would compete under a Canadian licence.

    But what about Parris Mullins? Is he still interested in buying in? And if so, where and how?

    1. Not sure about anyone wanting Durango to buy them, after the way they ended their far from glorious GP2 team!

    2. I have a feeling Mateschitz will probably just hang onto Torro Rosso until the right buyer comes along.

      1. Well, I recall reading that Epsilon were trying to buy the team before the political maelstrom last year.

  8. Can I just say what a relief to find someone who actually knows what theyre talking about on the internet. You definitely know how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More people need to read this and understand this side of the story. I cant believe youre not more popular because you definitely have the gift.

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