The original series, which was launched in 2005, was generally regarded as successful. It attracted good teams and talented drivers – Nico Hulkenberg used it as a key stepping stone to Formula 1 – and the concept of nations battling each other was popular with fans.
However it didn’t work out in commercial terms, and the whole thing collapsed in 2009. Initial attempts to revive it with the existing cars proved unsuccessful, and the new project shares nothing with the original other than the name and the overall concept.
While it’s easy to be sceptical, the plan has to be taken seriously because of the man behind it. Sir Keith Mills was a key player in the organisation of the London 2012 Olympics, and his other sporting projects have included an America’s Cup programme, something that required F1 levels of commitment.
His Origin Sports Group has identified A1GP as its next venture, and to get it up and running has hired Marcin Budkowski, the de facto team principal of Alpine in 2021, to oversee it.
Prior to going to Enstone, Budkowski had stints with Ferrari and McLaren, as well as a spell working with the FIA. His experience and contacts make him well placed to put together such a project.
“The challenge is great,” he tells Autosport. “I actually think it's an idea that has a lot of merit.
“It's an exciting project, but also for me, it's a great challenge to start something from scratch and build from zero. So I think the combination was what decided me to get involved in this.
"Origin is a sports rights, marketing and events group, so they're always on the lookout for new opportunities. One of the guys came across this opportunity, did some market analysis on the motorsports market, built a business plan around it, and it all made sense.
"Origin has very successful ventures and sailing and golf. They are very experienced and very serious people. And Sir Keith Mills wouldn't put his name to this project if it wasn't serious and very solid in terms of its foundations.”
Budkowski stresses that the new A1 GP has nothing to do with the original series, other than using its name, which still has a certain amount of goodwill attached to it.
"It's a revival of the concept, really,” he says. “It's not a revival of the A1 GP championship, it's a new championship, but using the same concept.
"Origin bought the rights to A1GP and the World Cup of Motorsports that became available last year. So we have the rights and the trademarks.
“We're still using the old logo, but there will be there will be a rebranding. It's temporary.”
Mills and his Origin organisation provide solid foundations, but they need substantial investment in order to get the project off the ground. Setting up a new category from scratch, and manufacturing all the cars, won’t be cheap.
"We're out on the markets fundraising at the moment for a fairly significant amount of money,” says Budkowski. “We'll set up an organisation and a championship, build the cars, organise the logistics etcetera. Everything needs to be accounted for.
“These discussions are extremely positive and extremely well advanced. And our objective is to close the fundraising by the summer and start moving forward. In our effort to make strong foundations for a commercially sustainable championship we will progress the next steps once we have secured all the funding we need.
“But all I can say is at this stage it's very positive. It's advanced significantly, and we’re optimistic about securing all the funds that we need.”
Source: Autosport