There have been a large number of reports by the international sports media recently that have projected that Trevor Carlin has tabled a bid to join the F1 grand prix grid in 2011. Carlin recently denied all of these rumors, stating that they are in no position, currently, to discuss this type of move. Instead, Carlin will remain 100% focused on its current teams in the British F3, World Series by Renault, as well as the GP3 Series.
The director of the Carlin outfit, Trevor Carlin, stated that the reigning triple British F3 Champions have no plans to join the F1, even though they have shown an interest in doing so since as early as 2008 and that the team is currently based out of the former Brabham F1 factory that is located in Surrey, complete with wind tunnel, and that Carlin has F1 experience as the Jordan Gran Prix sporting director.
However, he also stated that joining the F1 is still considered to be a goal that is being pursued in the long term. Carlin has not currently submitted an application to join the F1 for the 2011 season and will focus all of its attention on the current efforts in the junior categories.
This raises the question of who will likely get the spot that otherwise would have be USF1’s next year. Right now, it looks like the American Cypher Group, ART Grand Prix Spanish sportscar and single-seat squad Epsilon Euskadi and Durango both look to be the most probably candidates to take the spot.
Now that Carlin has ruled out the 2011 season, many people will be wondering if Carlin will be pursuing 2011 in the near future. There are a lot of reasons to suspect that the F1 and Carlin will reunite soon. The first is that Carlin has F1 experience. This means that Trevor Carlin knows how the F1 operates and has the potential to be very successful. Additionally, since the group is based in a location that is already outfitted for the F1. There is little to no reason that Barbham factory would be needed by the team unless they were planning on entering the F1 at some point in the future. When you combine these two facts, it seems like Carlin the F1 are an inevitable match at some point in the future.
A quick review of the facts. The most important fact is that Trevor Carlin has completely denied that there is a chance that Carlin will be involved in the F1 during the 2011 year. Additionally, all of the teams focus will continue to be on the junior categories. Since Carlin will not be involved, the next question is who are the current front-runners. Right now it seems like the American Cypher Group, Epsilon Euskadi, and Durango will be the likely additions in 2011.
