Scotracer wrote:I don't know the official amount the FIA requires but it is most definetely a fine line. What I recommend is that F1 follows Touring car series around the world and offers 3 championships instead of two: Drivers, constructors and Privateer teams. That way, a that has bought a chassis may compete for the drivers championship, but not the constructors (which should be obvious).
I dunno how much the FIA would go for it, but it would definetely get more teams on the grid (you may see GP2 teams such as Super Nova and ART coming up).
The issue with being a constructor is not an FIA requirement. It did not exist prior to the Concord Agreement in 1981. The FIA rules prior to 2008 used to require all competitors to be signatories to the concord agreement. By this trap door additional requirements like the constructor requirement of the schedule 3 of the Concord Agreement were inserted into the regulations.
Schedule 3 of CA
A constructor is "a person (including any corporate or unincorporated body) who owns the intellectual property rights to the rolling chassis it currently races and does not incorporate in such chassis any part designed or manufactured by any other constructor of Formula 1 racing cars except for standard items of safety equipment. Provided always that nothing in this Schedule shall prevent the use of an engine or gear box manufactured by a person other than the constructor of the chassis."
This is usually interpretated that no chassis and body work propriatory to a team can be sold to another team. SA and STR evaded this by buying the relevant parts from a designer that was not a competitor in F1 but a separate company.
The constructor principle is part of a scheme to give control over participation in the F1 championship to the CRH and the teams. It requires a concord agreement to have meaning. It is believed that at present Ferrari, Williams, Red Bull and Force India have such an agreement with the FIA and the CRH to the year 2012. On that basis Williams have threatened to sue Prodrive and where applicable the CRH and the FIA if they relax the requirements of constructors. Under this threat the teams and the CRH have agreed on the compromise that one constructor cannot supply two competitors. This agreement isn't public and one can only speculate in what form it is written. perhaps it is in the memorandum of understanding that was signed between all teams and Bernie. It appears that all parties are prepared to respect it. This is why STR cannot be supplied with a Red Bull chassis from next year on. So STR have to start designing their chassis either in house or outsourced from next year.
So the short answer to the question is:
If you have the intellectual property right to a chassis that you exclusively race yourself you are a constructor.
