FEBRUARY 17, 2003

Where the small teams can teach the big teams

In these difficult economic times, the role of the small F1 teams has been put into the spotlight. Some of the big teams treat those at the back of the grid with disdain and have no interest if they disappear or not, others would like to see them kept alive as they provide an easy way for the bigger operations to train drivers and find new staff with F1 experience. But there is one role which some of the little teams might yet play as budgets come under more and more pressure.

The small teams operate on budgets which are around 25% of the bigger operations and the ability to do this is in itself of value as the bigger teams may want to cut costs and need to understand where savings can be made. Obviously this is not going to be announced publicly as a big team is not going to want to be seen getting help from a small team but we believe that such things may happen in the months ahead.