Unsuccessful entrant launches F1 complaint

One of the teams that unsuccessfully applied for a place on the F1 grid for the 2010 season has lodged a complaint with the European Commission over the way the selection process was carried out.

The FIA announced back in June that USF1, Campos Meta F1 and Manor Grand Prix had been selected as the three new entries for the 2010 season, leaving a number of contenders disappointed - including the likes of Prodrive and Lola, who were widely tipped amongst the favourites to secure a slot on the grid.

However, rather than from one of the more established racing teams, the complaint has come from the Serbian engineering company AMCO, which had planned to enter a team named after its chief executive Zoran Stefanovic.

According the Daily Telegraph, the complaint centres around claims that the FIA broke competition law by insisting that teams looking to make the step into F1 had to use engines supplied by Cosworth.

USF1, Campos and Manor will all use Cosworth engines for their entries, but AMCO - under the Stefan Grand Prix name - had intended to use an engine from one of the manufacturers currently involved in the sport before being 'forced' to sign with Cosworth to stand a chance of making into onto the grid.

Despite that, AMCO failed to secure one of the three slots and now believes that the process should be carried out again as restricting potential entrants to the Cosworth engine 'is an act of limiting technical development, not just competition, and such restriction is blatantly damaging to Formula 1'.

"AMCO Corporation was forced by the FIA to sign with Cosworth and AMCO is complaining because of that," the 'paper quotes the team's complaint as reading. "There is an element of a plot behind our back which are not capable of getting rid of without the Directorate General for Competition."

Former World Touring Car Championship outfit N.Technology is also believed to have taken legal action over the selection process for the 2010 season.