DECEMBER 3, 2007

Something that did not happen

In any normal Formula 1 year we would have spent the day running through the official FIA Formula 1 entry to see if there could be anything gleaned from the list of teams and drivers. It is rare that there is much to be said but it gives the gossipmongers something solid to gossip about.

In any normal Formula 1 year we would have spent the day running through the official FIA Formula 1 entry to see if there could be anything gleaned from the list of teams and drivers. It is rare that there is much to be said but it gives the gossipmongers something solid to gossip about. The entry list traditionally comes out on December 1 - this may be a stipulation in a confidential document somewhere or other but we cannot find any reference for the need for the FIA to make the announcement on December 1 but have a vague memory that this is a mandatory thing. Or was when the Concorde Agreement ran the sport.

It is not hard to guess the numbering system because it is based on on the Constructors' Championship of the previous season with the one proviso being that the World Champion takes number one with him wherever he goes. Thus is theory the Ferraris will be 1 and 2 in 2008 with Kimi Raikkonen in number 1 and Felipe Massa in number 2. The BMWs should be 3 and 4, Renault 5 and 6, Williams 7 and 8, Red Bull 9 and 10, Toyota 11 and 12, Scuderia Toro Rosso 14 and 15, Honda 16 and 17, Super Aguri 18 and 19, Force India F1 20 and 21. Logically McLaren would have numbers 22 and 23 and Prodrive would be numbers 24 and 25.

This is the theory and a look back in the FIA archives reveals that this is regular as clockwork with December 1 being the publications of the entry in 2006, 2005, 2004 and 2003. In 2002 the entry list was put out on December 2 because December 1 was a Sunday.

So what happened this year?

Today is December 3 and there is no sign of anything.

The interesting point is that the FIA has already issued a 2008 entry list back on April 28 2006. This must have some legal status and thus one must ask whether there will be any penalty for Prodrive failing to make the championship. At the time the FIA noted that race numbers will be determined and published as per the final order of the 2007 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, which is fair enough.

Probably there will be an entry list in a few days once the World Council has decided what to do about Renault because it can hardly put out a press release and then change all the numbers a few weeks later if there is a penalty that drops a team down through the order and then changes the numbers of all those below.

Hopefully this is the only thing holding it all up and there are not more nasty surprises up the sleeve of the FIA conjurers.