Veteran F1 driver Alexander Wurz is proposing to re-enter F1 as a team principal in 2010 with Austrian company Superfund. Despite having missed the deadline for entries, Superfund believe they have a good chance of persuading the other teams and the FIA to accept them because of their strong financial status and preparedness for the sport.
Wurz told Autosport that he believed the organisation was ready for F1.
“The team is starting from a very solid platform. It is also different from the other entries we have seen talked about. They are all either returning constructors or existing teams from other formula what I like to call petrolheads who are possibly keen to go F1 racing because it’s the pinnacle of motor racing.â€
“Superfund on the other hand is a multi-billion dollar business that over the past years has grown stronger and (founder) Christian Baha sees F1 as an extremely powerful promotional tool for a company that returned very good profits, for its investors in such difficult market situations like we currently see. We are taking this project extremely seriously.”
Former Benetton, Williams, McLaren and Honda driver Wurz is fulfilling the role of test driver at Brawn GP this year, but admitted the time had come to move from racing to management.
“I was always interested in going into team management, even when I was racing in F1. Christian and I have talked about doing this for many years,” the Austrian said.
He pointed to the budget cap as an incentive for the Superfund group, which has previously been involved in F1 only as a sponsor of Minardi in the early 2000s.
“When we saw that through budget caps and natural market conditions, the cost of running a team was going to come down, we saw it as an opportunity and said, ‘Let’s go for it’. Christian is a very tough but fair businessman who only gave the green light once he knew we could create an efficient business model. It is important to point out that he is backing the team personally rather than with Superfund’s funds. With solid backing, the challenge for us is not so much financial, but rather technical. Until now, we have been working hard to achieve our current status in anticipation of a positive decision by the FIA.”
