Graeme Lowdon says F1 entry process now easier than it was when his Manor team made their debut in 2010
Monday 5 October 2015 11:06, UK
Manor president Graeme Lowdon believes F1 newcomers Haas will start scoring points from early on in their maiden season next year.
The F1 grid, as it stands pending the uncertain future of Red Bull's two teams, will increase back up to 22 cars in 2016 when the American-owned Haas outfit make their long-awaited debut in the sport.
Haas will become F1's first new entrants since 2010 when Manor, then under the Virgin name, were one of three new teams to join the grid. Five years on, however, and two of those start-up outfits - Caterham and HRT - are out of business, while Manor only escaped administration and made the grid for this season following an 11th-hour rescue deal.
Furthermore, Manor's two points in last year's Monaco GP remain the only ones scored by the 2010 entrants in nearly 100 Grands Prix.
Financed by long-time NASCAR team owner and industrialist Gene Haas, F1's latest start-ups are being tipped to achieve success rather sooner with the team's chances boosted by a technical partnership with Ferrari. Haas's chassis, meanwhile, is being built by Italian firm Dallara.
And Lowdon is expecting F1's new arrivals to make an immediate impact.
"It's a reflection of just how difficult this industry is that they've changed the way a new team can come in. If you look back to 2009 when we came in, we were subject to all the regulations on the same day we entered and had something like seven months to be on the grid in Bahrain [in 2010] and there was no option at all to delay that in any way," the Manor president told Sky Sports' The F1 Show.
"If we roll the clock forward, of the 2009 teams we're the only ones that survived - and we've had some ups and downs.
"Haas have been allowed to defer their entry for a year, they've been able to take their time over it and, crucially, they're not subject at present to any of the regulations. So they can take technology from any partner they want, they can take aero, they can spend as much time as they want in the wind tunnel.
"So the ease at which you can come into Formula 1 has changed dramatically and some would argue that that's a sign that this is a pretty difficult sport to enter and it's been a lot easier to enter now.
"That's a good thing. It's a bad thing for us because we came through a different route, so in my view they're going to be points scoring pretty much straight away because that car is extremely well developed. You just buy in the technology - it's going to be a really good package."
But while his team endured a more fraught build-up to their F1 debut and based their entry on a budget cap that never materialised, Lowdon says that Manor can't begrudge the subsequent changes to the entry process.
"I don't think we can necessary complain about it," he added. "We can't complain that the industry's too difficult and then complain when it's made easier for people."
Manor themselves are being tipped for an improved showing in 2016 after signing a long-term deal for a supply of world champions Mercedes' engines. Having had little option but to take a step back this year to simply ensure their continued participation in the sport, Lowdon is confident they can start looking forwards again next season.
"We've had a really difficult season and not the sort of season that anyone would plan to have," he explained.
"We're now in a position where we've regrouped, rebuilt the technical and racing side of the business and are now planning for 2016. And to have the Mercedes power unit and the Williams gearbox and back end really gives us a chance to move forward and be back to where we really wanted to be."
