JULY 31, 2006

The future of MF1 Racing

For some weeks now, Formula 1 has been assuming that Alex Shnaider was on the verge of selling his MF1 Racing operation to a Dutch consortium. With each passing week, however, that sale seems less and less likely even if things could happen in a matter of days if Shnaider decided to take the money on offer and leave F1.

Shnaider has not been seen in the F1 paddock since Canada but his acolytes have been busy working away at deals, trying to find an engine to replace the Toyotas and work out what to do about building a new car.

It is worth noting that the team played host to Mike Gascoyne at Hockenheim and he spent more than an hour talking with team boss Colin Kolles. Gascoyne has been away on gardening leave since being ditched by Toyota at the start of April. Gascoyne knows the MF1 organisation well as he was technical director when the team was Jordan, before he moved on to Renault. Working on the principle that engineers can only be tied down for six months, Gascoyne could go to work for the team at the start of October. That would make building a new car a bit of a rush but until there is an engine deal it is hard to start work on a car.

It will also be interesting to see how Shnaider reacts to the embarrassing news that both of his cars were excluded from the results at Hockenheim for having flexible rear wings.