(Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
I read somewhere that Bernie Ecclestone reckons that there could be as many as thirteen teams on the Australian starting grid in 2010.
The USF1 (or USGPE as they have been forced to rename themselves) team will most likely be one of the new additions. Maybe Prodrive will pop back onto the radar. At this stage, it's hard to tell.
But is an increased number of teams good for Formula 1?
Cast your mind back to the late 1980s-early 1990s, when small, under-financed teams were set up and then bankrupted within a couple of years or so. Simtek, Forti, Pacific, Coloni, Scuderia Italia, any of these names ring a bell?
They certainly filled up the grid but the majority were hugely underpowered, and had very little success.
With the FIA planned budget caps of £30 million, it gives the potential for more independently run teams to enter the sport, but is it likely that they will be competitive? It's all very well having 26 drivers sat on the grid, but if only a few are competitive, it isn't going to add anything to the races.
Then again, if they are competitive, then you are looking at a very close and exciting season. Personally, I think the more teams the better.
It is always good to see the smaller teams having some success at one race, even if they get no coverage in the other sixteen. I think everyone enjoyed Sato overtaking Alonso at the Canadian GP a couple of years ago.
It will be interesting if there will be three more teams in 2010. I can't quite see there being that many more, especially with Toyota and Renault questionning future involvement in F1, but at least one more would be nice to see.
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