Bollocks… Egypt have scored #

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1. USF1 would not be racing at all in 2010.
2. Stefan Grand Prix would also not be racing in 2010.
3. I ran in circles around the building screaming “ARRRGHHH!”. (Actually I didn’t but I wanted to!)

When I opened the 2010 season, I was working under the assumption that USF1 would race at some point, but it became clear a few days that USF1 was not going to race this year at all. As soon as that was clear, the USF1 team and it’s drivers was pulled from the price list.

Also for the 2010 season, I revised the pricing system to be a lot tighter and more linear. Originally I had Campos (Who are now called Hispania.) priced at 4 million and USF1 at 3 million. Then the news stories about USF1 asking to miss the first 4 races and also Stefan looking to take their places. Clearly a big mess in the making, so what I did was drop all the prices down by 1 million and priced both Campos and USF1 at 3 million each, allowing for you pick your bargain basement teams a little more easily. I also had the prices for Stefan GP set to be also 3 million, so the situation was pretty much covered.

However it does leave the a situation for a small number of FF1GP teams, who have USF1, Jose Maria Lopez or the USF1 2nd Driver. Those drivers or teams will not score any points in this years FF1GP, including prediction points for DNF.

What I’m in the process of doing is setting up a page to allow you to delete your team if you have USF1, Jose Maria Lopez or the USF1 2nd Driver. However this option to delete your team will be only available for a limited time which will be until 14:00 GMT on Friday 12th March (UK time)

More details will be released on this blog when the new page is ready which will be in a few days. Also I will be emailing the team owners of the effected FF1GP teams as well.

Update

The option to delete teams is available to teams that qualify. If you do qualify.

1. Go-to http://www.ff1gp.com
2. Click on Login and enter your FF1GP account details.
3. At the top of “My teams” page a message will appearing telling you if you have tells that qualify for deletion. Click on the link.
4. Select the team you want, and click on “Delete Team”
5. After the team is deleted, you may re-enter your team using the old team name, with a different driver and team line-up.
6. Don’t forget to re-enter your team into any private leagues you may have entered!

Anyone with Campos in their FF1GP will have found the name has been updated to reflect the name change, since they are the same team, just a different name.

Hispania are expected to formally launch their team on Thursday 4 March, and it is hope they finally confirm their driver lineup. It is expected that their lineup is to consist of Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna.

As for news on the final slot on the grid, all I can say is watch this space. It’s expected that the slot could be confirmed by the FIA when they release the full entry list. Of course, the FIA have not given a date when they will release that list.

It’s gets worse for USF1. There is the possible news that Jose Maria Lopez is joining Campos as a test driver, and even Eddie Jordan is saying that Stefan will be on the grid in Bahrain. I’ve always taken Eddie’s tips with a little bit of salt, but he has been right about some of the big F1 rumours over the last year. (Or he’s vey good at going the right way on bets with a 50-50 chance!)

So for now, I’ve withdrawn the USF1 team, Jose Maria Lopez and the USF1 2nd driver from the FF1GP price list.

This does mean there are FF1GP team who do have the above teams and drivers. I will put something in place to address the issues, once the USF1 and Stefan GP situation is resolved.

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1. The new code wasn’t ready, that’s the main reason! Sorry about that, but other real life issues do have to come first.
2. Formula 1 testing does not complete until the end of February, and the final price list does sometimes get a final tweak as a result.
3. You would think that Formula 1 could sort out their drivers and teams before testing started, or even the first race?

In the case of point 3, the answer is no.

All except 2 teams have not confirmed their full driver line-ups for 2010. They are Campos Meta and USF1, and if you been following the F1 news lately, there is the extra complication coming in the form of Stefan Grand Prix. There was an excellent rant by the Ferrari team about the whole situation.

Let’s start with the Campos Meta, they have only confirmed Bruno Senna. The current rumour is that Jose Maria Lopez is going to switch from USF1 to Campos Meta, as they do have a chance of actually turning up to the first race, even though they had a hard time securing funds for the team, or resources to do any testing.

Then there is USF1… How would I describe them? Well I reckon the chances of one of their engineers sticking a sausage up the exhaust pipe of their cars is greater than them turning up for the first race… Oh wait they are asking to miss the first 4 races! Add funding to the list of problems and maybe include  organisation issues as well, it’s very questionable how USF1 will survive.

Finally Stefan Grand Prix. Oh boy where do we start with them.

They don’t have a slot on the grid, however they are circulating like vultures around the USF1 factory hoping for them to drop out so they can take over their slot. Their car is based on the Toyota chassis and engine. Got to give them one point over USF1 who don’t have a car yet.

However they still don’t have a grid slot. If you listen to the large guy called Jean Todt, they won’t get in at all, however if you listen to the little guy call Bernie Ecclestone , you would think Stefan will get in this year. Yes this is Formula 1, you do get the Little and Large show thrown in as a free extra.

Stefan Grand Prix was due to test their car in Spain this week. (25-28 Feb 2010) However they cannot get any tyres for their car. I guess Kwik fit don’t have their franchise out in Serbia yet. Did I say the car is a Toyota car? They better take it down to the local dealer to have the brakes and accelerator pedal checked out before going racing.

That’s the end of the rant, but those 3 teams do leave the FF1GP prices slightly in the air. However if you want to start thinking of your dream combination, you can with the provisional price list for 2010. The full rules will be out when the entries are open, but here are the 3 main rules for selecting your teams and drivers.

1. You must choose 2 different drivers, and 2 different teams.
2. Your drivers must come from 2 different teams.
3. Your budget is £27 million.

Team Prices

• McLaren  £14
• Red Bull Racing  £13
• Mercedes GP  £12
• Ferrari  £11
• Williams  £10
• Renault  £9
• Sauber  £8
• Force India  £7
• Scuderia Toro Rosso  £6
• Lotus F1 Racing  £5
• Virgin Racing  £4
• Campos Meta  £3
• US F1 Team  £3

Driver Prices

• Jenson Button £14
• Lewis Hamilton  £13
• Sebastian Vettel £13
• Mark Webber £12
• Michael Schumacher £12
• Nico Rosberg  £11
• Fernando Alonso £11
• Felipe Massa £10
• Rubens Barrichello £10
• Nico Hulkenberg £9
• Robert Kubica  £9
• Vitaly Petrov £8
• Pedro De la Rosa £9
• Kamui Kobayashi £7
• Adrian Sutil  £7
• Vitantonio Liuzzi £6
• Sebastien Buemi  £6
• Jaime Alguersuari £5
• Jarno Trulli  £5
• Heikki Kovalainen £4
• Timo Glock  £4
• Lucas di Grassi £4
• Bruno Senna £3
• Jose Maria Lopez £3

The remaining seats at Campos and USF1 will also cost £3. Should Stefan Grand Prix get on the grid the Team and their drivers will all be priced £3

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