It’s been a rather bizarre day when it come to Stefan Grand Prix – the mysterious Serbian outfit chasing a place on the F1 grid for the 2010 season.
This is the team headed by Zoran Stefanovich, a man who has been linked with a move into F1 in the past, and was one of the outfits rejected by the FIA when it announced Campos Meta, Manor GP (now Virgin) and USF1 as new additions to the grid for this season – with Lotus joining at a later date.
Stefanovich lodged a complaint with the European Union over the selection process for 2010 back in July after it became apparent that his team had missed out, but has since pushed ahead anyway with plans to enter the sport.
A deal with Toyota was done when the Japanese marque quit the sport, and SGP has now revealed that the Stefan S-01 – basically what would have been the 2010 Toyota – will run at Portimao for the first time later this month. No drivers have been named, but Kazuki Nakajima, thanks to his links with Toyota, looks well placed to be one of the two drivers present.
The announcement of that deal came hours after Stefan GP revealed a container of equipment was en-route to Bahrain ready for the first race of the year, even though the team doesn’t have a slot on the grid.
Which begs the question, does Stefanovich know something we don’t?
It’s a well known fact that two of the F1 newcomers are facing problems in preparing for the new season. Despite being one of the first to announce plans to enter the sport, USF1 has been surrounded by questions, with Bernie Ecclestone publically doubting if the Charlotte-based team will make it to Bahrain, a claim the team has denied. However, the news coming from the USA has done little to dispel those rumours, especially when it revealed its first driver would be Jose Maria Lopez – a man who hasn’t raced in single-seaters for three years and who is being funded by the Argentine government.
Campos also appear in trouble, with rumours that the team is in severe need of extra funding if it is to make it to Bahrain. A1GP boss Tony Teixeira has been linked with a deal, but given the issues to have affected the nation versus nation series, his potential involvement would raise serious questions from those to have lost out financially from A1GP’s failings.
Stefanovic appears to be hoping that one of those two teams is forced to give up on the F1 dream so his team can fill the void but his own outfit hasn’t signed up to the Concorde Agreement and can’t expect to simply fill any vacancy that may appear – F1’s rules simply don’t allow teams to come and go.
For a start, Stefanovic would need to undergo stringent financial checks and the fact that Mike Coughlan – a man at the centre of the spygate affair – is involved in the plans is unlikely to find favour with new FIA president Jean Todt.
But if Stefanovic doesn’t know something, why go to the trouble of doing the deal with Toyota and why ship equipment all the way to Bahrain for a race you aren’t even entered in?
Only time will tell…
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