The Dinnington-based outfit will be known as Manor Grand Prix, and owner John Booth has vowed to 'surprise a few people' when it makes its debut next season.

Manor was announced as one of three successful applicants for a place on the starting grid next season.

And following the team's successes in both British and European Formula 3 and the junior single-seater formulae over the past 20 years – winning 19 major titles – Booth insists the team will not embarrass itself at the highest level.

He said: "I don't expect to win races immediately, but I expect to surprise a few people."

The team had never been mentioned in any of the national press speculation about new entries – but Booth had elected to keep the plans low profile.

He said: "It was always our intention to keep under the radar, so if you think something is going to happen and then it doesn't, you don't look like an idiot!"

"It's a project we've been working on for quite a while."

"The opportunity came up about four or five months ago after chatting to our technical director Nick Wirth and that's the key to the project in all honesty. He's a brilliant guy and has the skill and talent to design and build the car, whereas we've got the nous to run it."

"Manor Grand Prix will run to Yorkshire values – as cleanly and efficiently as possible. Nick is a partner in Manor GP and I've got every faith in his people." Booth also said that the decision to join F1 represented a u-turn as he had always insisted that he would not take the team beyond F3.

"I always said we'd never go further than F3, because I believe that's the pinnacle outside of F1," he told Autosport.

The owner also admitted that they would not have been able to enter F1 had it not been for the new salary cap. The FIA has enforced a £40m limit on teams' spending from next season.

"Until the beginning of this year it was impossible for any privately funded company to enter F1. The cap on the budget has allowed us to take this next step."

"Until the recession and the budget cap it was never going to happen, except for a major manufacturer with £100million to spend."

Booth also talked about his ambitions for the future, and decried criticism that Manor was not a big enough team to take to F1.

"Our current premises are oversized for F3. It's about 8,500 square feet, but we do need to expand for F1 and have planning permission for another 6,000. The design of the car is pretty much finalised and we intend to have it running in January with an FIA-spec customer Cosworth engine."

As for having potential drivers in the pipeline, Booth would only say: "It's to early to talk about drivers, but it's unfortunate that Roberto Merhi isn't a year on from where he is because I have every faith he will be the real article."

He also revealed that Manor Motorsport, whose former drivers include Lewis Hamilton (left), will continue, probably as a two-car operation.
"Once the season is over, my focus will be the F1 project, but I'll give the F3 team my best efforts until then," he added.