JANUARY 10, 2010

Campos Meta on the brink

Campos Meta's entry in the 2010 Formula One World Championship has been put further in doubt with the news that Tony Teixeira has entered the frame to take over the Spanish outfit.

Campos Meta's entry in the 2010 Formula One World Championship has been put further in doubt with the news that Tony Teixeira has entered the frame to take over the Spanish outfit. The man behind the defunct A1GP championship has always harbored ambitions to enter Formula One but failed in his efforts to take over Spyker, Honda and Toro Rosso over the last two years.

Adrian Campos, Meta 1 and their partner Jose Ramon Carabante have not been able to attract any serious sponsorship to the team in the last eight months and the signing of Bruno Senna has failed to raise the level of interest in the team from Spanish and Brazilian companies.

Campos' Sporting Director Daniele Audetto has been busy trying to sort out deals with either young Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado or Russia's Vitaly Petrov - both thought to have access to serious funding from their countries - but has yet to succeed in his quest, a situation that is putting the team's future in doubt.

Adrian Campos has contacted several potential investors in the last few weeks to find the money to keep paying the bills to Dallara - the company that is building the chassis for the Spanish outfit - including Tony Teixeira and Ultimate's Brian Walsh, but hasn't been able to conclude a deal. With the construction of the second chassis and enough spare parts to go testing and racing looming, Campos needs to find a large amount of money as soon as possible or risk delaying the Italian company's work even further. According to sources close to Dallara payments have been delayed, with the company slowing down the development of the car and it's now certain Campos won't be able to attend the Valencia test at the start of February even if it finds all the money it needs to run the 2010 campaign quickly.

At the same time Stefan Grand Prix continues to work as if it's taking part in the coming championship, even though the Serbian company has not been given an entry, with Bernie Ecclestone supporting the deal done with Toyota and, allegedly, pushing hard to make the other teams accept it as a suitable replacement for Campos Meta 1 in the 2010 Formula One World Championship - a move the FIA could be far from keen to endorse following the legal challenge made by Zoran Stefanovich to the Federation's team selection criteria.

According to German sources Stefan GP has bee handed what would have been the Toyota TF110 chassis, with engines and gearboxes included and will field Kazuki Nakajima in one of its cars should an entry in the championship become available.

But that will only happen if a team drops out in the coming weeks with all eyes focused on Campos' situation as the Spanish team is clearly the weakest link in the entry list accepted by the FIA.