Trevor Carlin has no particular Formula 1 aspirations, but has dabbled in the past with the sport’s top tier. In 2005 he was hired as sporting director of Midland F1, formerly Jordan. ‘I’d been told there would be significant investment,’ he says, ‘so I accepted the role and dovetailed responsibilities with running my own team. The money never really materialised, though, so the opportunities to develop weren’t there and I didn’t stay long. And even when I was there, I’d be sitting on the pit counter, trying to tune one of the computers into live timing to see how my F3 guys were doing elsewhere’

‘The following year Max Mosley phoned out of the blue and said he wanted to chat to me about racing. He drove down in his Toyota Prius and asked why we weren’t doing F1. I explained that the barriers to entry were too high, so it would have to be a customer-car model. We had a great chat and he liked seeing how we operated as a tiny team, because it reminded him of the old days. He told us the FIA would have to find a way to address the situation and in 2006 they announced a tender document for a new F1 entrant. I phoned to ask whether he thought we should apply and he said, ‘I strenuously recommend that you do.’ So I did, but then Prodrive was chosen to enter the championship from 2008, although that deal eventually fell through. Since then, of course, it has become ever harder.’