Will Formula One benefit from three drivers per team?

Bernie Ecclestone

The sad tale around the Marussia and the Caterham F1 team has once again highlighted the plight of the smaller teams in F1. It raises the question of whether we are soon to see an F1 grid made up with third cars from leading teams and whether that loss of diversity would be damaging to the sport.

Bernie Ecclestone is open to the idea

It is a subject that has come around several times, usually soon after a global financial downturn, as the money supply becomes tight. Today is no exception and F1′s commercial leader Bernie Ecclestone has been championing the idea this year, with strong interventions in July and September on the subject, as the viability of some of the small teams at the back of the grid comes into question.

As Marussia have seized to operate and Caterham teeters on the brink of it, barring the miracle it gets from the crowd funding, today we are asking the question – is the diversity of the grid provided by the small teams important to F1, or should seven or eight powerful teams each field three cars and share F1′s US $750 million annual commercial revenues between them?

Opportunity for emerging young drivers

One area where third cars probably would be positive is in the development of young drivers. With teams like Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari and Williams obliged to run a third car, the most talented youngsters would have a route to F1, without needing to provide funding, which often stops them from getting a break, losing the seats to “pay drivers”.

Bernie Ecclestone has been quite clear on the subject of running 3 cars per team. From the neutral perspective, it would be great to have the smaller teams in the sport, as Formula 1 has a rich heritage of teams, and losing any of these teams, is not a good sign for the sport long run by huge commercial assets.

On the other hand, by running younger drivers in teams such as, McLaren or Ferrari, it would establish a relatively level playing field, among the teams, wherein, these drivers can learn from their experienced teammates and gradually speed up the learning process of being in Formula 1.

More competitive

This would help in increasing the competitiveness over the course of the season, and make it exciting for us fans, that’s for sure. The top teams have discussed this idea, although not in detail, and as each day passes by, it seems more and more likely, that we would have a few 3 car teams, from 2015, and maybe customer cars from 2016 and so on.

By having a ‘young driver programme’, for the third cars, it would lead to more people, taking up the sport, with the added motivation of knowing they will be in a competitive car straightaway. It would also be an opportunity to raise more sponsorship, knowing that these cars will always remain on the grid. Also, maybe, encourage young engineers to control these third car drivers.

Can teams afford a third car?

The rules say that in the event that the grid drops below 16 cars then the remainder of the entrants can be asked to supply a third car. But is that feasible, given the time scales? It is five months to the start of the 2015 season in Melbourne, Australia.

That is not long enough for the top teams to gear up to supply a third car for a season, according to one team boss. Having 3 car teams also brings about confusion, as it remains unclear whether the third car would be eligible to score points.

Notwithstanding, the above, it is quite clear that the big teams want to take the matter in their own hands, and run the sport, which will maybe and gradually phase out the smaller teams, before the start of the 2015 championship. Barring any major meetings which result in a share of the budget, it looks unlikely we will have a car from Caterham, Sauber or maybe even Lotus.

Having a third car definitely brings with it the advantages but only time will tell, if Formula One, will eventually, abandon the proud history of having the lesser teams in action.

A third Ferrari/McLaren, or a Caterham/Marrusia, what would you like?