Epsilon Euskadi's team boss is Joan Villadelprat, who has held managing positions inside Formula One for several teams in the past, including McLaren, Ferrari, Benetton, Tyrrell and Prost. The Spanish outfit was practically one of the first ones to apply for F1 access last year, but was eventually turned down by the ruling body in favor of US F1, Campos Grand Prix, Manor F1 and Lotus F1 Team.
Currently, the racing team from Basque Country resides in Azkoitia (Gipuzkoa), with their racing operations including series such as World Series by Renault, Formula Renault 2.0 and the famous Le Mans Series.
“We were ready in June (last year), we had the financial support, but for whatever reasons we were not chosen. We will reopen the project and my job is to re-gather all of the support that we had. If the FIA gives us enough time to be ready for next year, we can be in F1,” said Villadelprat, according to the GMM news agency.
Last year, when the other teams were chosen before Epsilon Euskadi for the 2010 F1 entry list, there were some rumors that suggested only the teams who had agreed to a Cosworth partnership would be granted access into the series. The Basque team didn't make it, being placed by the FIA on the reserve list in case one of the new teams would withdraw.
Because that happened so late in the winter – it took US F1 until the end of February to admit their inability to compete in the 2010 F1 series – the FIA decided to set off a new selection process for the 2011 campaign. The new teams for the 2011 season of F1 are to be announced in July, while the invitation to the teams to express interest, along with a EUR1000 fee, was set for April 15.
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