Richards waits on new Concorde Agreement

The 2008 Formula One grid was meant to consist of twelve teams with the addition of Prodrive, the English based squad run by David Richards that secured the final two spots in the series from a number of other eager team owners.

However, due to the fact that the plan was to use customer cars for their first season in the sport, a plan that was vetoed by other team bosses, such as Sir Frank Williams, that final garage in pitlane will remain empty for another year at least.

Richards plan to use a McLaren chassis and Mercedes engine, basically becoming a McLaren B team, was quickly thwarted with Williams, who is one of the few independent teams left on the grid, stating he didn’t want to be racing four McLarens every second weekend, a point duly noted by the FIA and the current Concorde Agreement.

Therefore, as a result, customer cars were ruled inadmissible for 2008 and as it stands, the expense of starting a team from scratch is too great, meaning that he had no choice but to abandon his original plans. Now Richards is waiting to see how the new Concorde Agreement reads as to whether or not he will continue plans to join the grid in 2009.

"I am waiting to see what form the new Concorde Agreement takes before deciding on our next course of action. If Max Mosley is successful in reducing the cost of participation then it may still be a realistic proposition in the future," Richards told us. “Today, the start up costs are prohibitive and it is highly unlikely a new team would be competitive for three to five years. Under these circumstances, it is not a realistic proposition for Prodrive. On the other hand, if Max Mosley is successful in his control of costs then it may become viable and something we need to revisit. Of course, in the unlikely event that they new Concorde Agreement allowed 'customer cars', we would be there tomorrow."