15/10/2004
NEWS STORY
Despite the involvement of Dallara, which is said to be building its cars, the proposed Midland F1 team hasn't been given much credibility since the project was first announced last week.
News of the team and its owner was broken by Bernie Ecclestone's Formula1.com website, rather than by way of an official project launch or even the issuing of a press statement, adding to the speculation that it was some sort of publicity stunt. As if.
Certainly, the news that the man behind the team - which with a name like Midland F1 sounds more like a bus company than an F1 outfit - is a Russian émigré living in Canada, boasting an annual budget of $100m (£55m), is hard to take seriously, not for an all-new team.
However, the revelation that the highly successful F3 team boss Trevor Carlin is involved gives Midland F1 some much-needed credibility, for at last (other than Dallara) we have someone involved who appears to be a serious player.
Like many, Carlin has long had aspirations to get into F1, though the enormous budgets involved, plus the closed-shop mentality of 'Planet Paddock', seemed to make that impossible.
Let's hope that Mr Shnaider is as serious about the project as his new-found partners.