Try accessing the pit or paddock areas as a regular fan and you’d quickly be ushered towards the exit by heavies intent on keeping the hoi polloi out.
So, if it’s difficult to get access into the cosseted world of F1 as a fan, what’s it like if you want to compete? Just how do you get on to the grid?
Firstly, the sport’s governing body, the FIA, requires a deposit of $48 million. It’s a statement of intent, but nothing more.
The smoothest route in is to buy an existing team. Midland, then the worst team on the grid, were sold to Spyker for a reputed $106 million in 2006.
Since then the team has been bought out again, this time by Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya, to become Force India. And now he’s got his foot in the door, Mallya will need to invest more than the estimated $120 million Force India have as their annual budget if he wants to see his team mingle with the big boys.
Buying an existing team means the facilities and personnel to design and build a car as well as run a team are already in place, and the deposit has already been paid to the FIA.
In 1999, the Japanese marquee announced plans to enter F1 in 2001, only to delay that by a year and thereby forfeit an $11 million deposit.
It is rumored their budget is the biggest in the sport, an estimated $500 million a year, and they have yet to win a race in 6½ seasons trying.
That proposal, however, was successfully challenged by long-time privateers and one-time dominant force Williams, who were peeved at the prospect of having to compete with entrants who would avoid the huge costs incurred by designing and building their own cars.
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