OCTOBER 8, 2004

Midland F1 confirmed

As we exclusively predicted the Midland Group has announced plans to establish a new Formula 1 team in 2006. The team will be called Midland F1 and will be backed by the Russian-backed financial, Guernsey-registered company. The cars will be built by Dallara. The Midland chairman Alex Shnaider says that the team will be based in England but engines have yet to be decided upon and it is thought that there is a strong possibility that the company may buy Jaguar Racing as this would give it rights under the Concorde Agreement which would be worth around $45m over three years.

"We understand that basic survival in Formula 1 requires a budget of around $100 million per annum and we are prepared for that," said Shnaider.