Campos boss admits 'chaos'

Kolles: Crazy story

The only department which basically exists is a software department, with eight guys who never saw an F1 car in their lives.

Colin Kolles
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New Campos Meta team principal Colin Kolles has admitted they are in a state of "chaos" less than three weeks before the start of the new Formula One season.

The former Midland and Spyker boss, who parted ways with the Silverstone-based outfit after Vijay Mallya took control and rebranded them Force India, was handed the role after chief shareholder José Ramón Carabante took over from founder Adrian Campos last week.

Kolles revealed that when he started work on the project two weeks ago, he found "basically nothing" in terms of facilities and said that the team would have to seek a temporary base with Italian chassis manufacturer Dallara - who are building their car - in the meantime.

"For two weeks I'm sleeping two hours a night," he told adamcooperf1.com. "It's the most incredible time.

"I push more and more, and I'm not giving it up until I'm there. I want to succeed in bringing the team on the grid, and to survive the year and to stabilise it and then to build it up."

Crazy

Revealing the true extent of the team's lack of preparedness, Kolles said: "My role is to clean up the chaos! They had basically nothing, only chaos.

"The only department which basically exists is a software department, with eight guys who never saw an F1 car in their lives, and who are doing software simulation programmes.

"Then there are two or three engineers with F1 experience, and that's it. The real story is a crazy story, you understand."

He added that Campos Meta "will be based in Spain as an HQ, but for now we will operate from Dallara, for the first race, and we'll see.

"At mid-term it will definitely be in Spain. The team will be based in Murcia. We have to build up a state-of-the-art factory, wind tunnel and everything."

Kolles has set the team a target of making the grid in Bahrain on March 14 but admitted it would be "amazing" if they actually delivered.

"We will have two cars in Bahrain. I don't know how we will have them, and I don't care, but we will have two cars on the grid," he said.

"If this is going to be achieved, I think this is one of the most amazing things, I tell you. They had nothing. They had one empty workshop with nothing inside..."

Rescue

Brazilian Bruno Senna signed a contract to race for Campos Meta, although Kolles admitted that having two paying drivers join might help them shore up their finances.

"It's very clear that we need a budget to rescue the team," he said. "At Jordan [in 2005] we also had to start with pay drivers, and then it developed. After four years you have full professional drivers.

"When the team is performing and the team is efficient, then it is on a second page."