Hope you don't mind me doing this for you Dalziel! For starters, this is unsourced, but similar stories popped up earlier this year, to say nothing of how often Ferrari have raised the subject in the past. Here is Joe Saward's blog on the issue from July, for instance: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/on-third-cars/ Now, I seem to remember that some time in the past (I think recently - 2003 maybe?) there was a genuine fear that we would end up with less than 20 cars on the grid after the folding of several teams, at which point it was discovered that the regulations permit (and possibly even require) the top teams to field extra cars to make up the difference in that instance. I cannot, however, find a source for this at all and it is entirely possible that I am misremembering! So, the questions: 1) Would this be a good thing? It would allow the teams that remain on the grid additional sponsorship opportunities and allow them to run rookie drivers, perhaps. But on the downside, it would make F1 even more difficult to break into than it has been for about the last thirty years. 2) Which are the three teams that Parr is expecting to quit? We can assume that Caterham and Marussia would find it difficult to get funding for a third car given they are barely scraping by as it is, but who is the mystery third team - Lotus? Sauber? 3) Am I completely mad or did what I said above actually happen? Discuss away. Personally I'm against the idea because it seems entirely self-defeating for the midfield teams and we need more to counteract the power of the top teams rather than add to it further. Then again, it does raise another question, why do we not have any one-driver teams in F1? Surely there is an opportunity being missed there. Note: I think this is worthy of its own thread separate from the generic 2015 rumours/line-ups thread, but feel free to merge it if it is felt otherwise
Thanks TomTom. This is such a bad idea, i don't really know where to begin with it. If the top 4 teams each field 3 cars, i don't see how any midfield teams will ever score points, unless they extend the points positions.
Extra sponsorship could be worth £3-4m per race depending on the team, plus they could sell the seat e.g. to Yamamoto. It would also help teams who want to run young drivers to bed them in for when their older drivers retire. There are positives but they're sooo outweighed by the negatives it's not funny.
The only person in the world who likes this Idea is monte. He has been chatting to Bernie alot this weekend discussing what he thinks F1 should be. I suspect this is how the rumour has come about. Unfortunatly for Him. Bernie can only see dollar signs so he wants multiple customers paying to race rather than less with an extra car.
