While I want to feel bad for Pechito, it's really hard to do when from the pictures and info I saw coming out USF1 months ago they seemed ill-prepared and going no-where fast. This was obviously the guys dream, he admitted he never imagined getting a chance again after leaving Euro racing 3 years ago, and I imagine threw up blinders to the obvious when it came to all the "signs".

But at least he has an excuse, the investors and the government giving cash to these twits. If all this plays out as reported it will be interesting to see what lies were being told to these folks. Lawsuits all around.

Exactly. How did they come across this info without a source?

It feels good to be right. It might be over a silly thing, but there's a sense of satisfaction when clear, logical analysis made by people here comes to pass, despite the constant denials and naysaying of those who were convinced USF1 was for real.

I look forward to their spin on how they weren't denying USF1 was in trouble, just specific elements blah blah technicality blah blah semantics blah blah.

Every year things in F1 happen that are simply repeats of things that have happened before. Those of us who've been around a while are able to take history and draw parallels where appropriate. Enough small things put together, lead to a conclusion. And yet every year there are those who will argue passionately that those individual elements aren't worthy of analysis, or that things should be interpreted differently, all the while ignoring the big picture.

The laws of probability of course suggests that there is still a chance that USF1 could be on the grid in Bahrain, as promised and as planned. To me however it's no less likely than it was several weeks ago, when the reality was clear to those of us who've seen it all before.

There is zero logic involved, all parroted rambling. He surmises Hurley "ditch" Windsor and Anderson. Except that Anderson owns the entry. Without the entry, no reason to invest the money. Changing the principal would require everyone, FOM, FOTA and FIA to sign off on it then to front the dough for the new car and get set up for Bahrain. Bernie's not keen on them and the more teams the more the money has to be split and the more chance the other new guys get less money. Can't see how all that could happen in the next few weeks. There are two reasons I think Hurley would be interested in maintaining the investment. The obvious, salvaging the original investment. The other maintaining the "built in Amerca" theme. Don't see how he is going to get more American backing by building a European team. By ditching the operation entirely and starting again overseas, how does that help making back the original investment? He might as well buy or invest in Campos and be done with it.

"He" also thinks this is about the money, not knowing the detail of moniker- or entry ownership, KA is nowhere without Hurley's money, why his bargaining leverage is zip. If that moron don't know when to stop, Hurley can take his money to Campos and change the team's name to "Campos AmericanGP" or whatever.
What's in the name anyway, FOM don't even recognize "USF1" as I understand?

Hurley realizes he's been taken for a ride by two wannabees, either it's "ce'st la vie", or try again with the real thing.

Raz

So, basically. they won`t, right?

Indeed, Anderson needs the money and if Hurley wants to see some of his 20 mil back he'll have to front for getting the team on the grid. Your understanding of the FOM and USF1 is also suspect. Prior to the entry being accepted the FOM required USF1 to change the name. They chose US Grand Prix Engineering. When the entry was accepted they changed it back to USF1. Your lack of knowledge of the details is to me what gives your posts zero credibility.

And exactly what is this sad excuse for a team called on the official FIA list of entries? Perhaps you should check that out before you make comments on other people's credibility?

Whatever money has been spent on that Charlotte chopper-outfit are long gone by now, I'm sure Hurley has no illusions about that whatsoever, this is about trying again or not.

Well considering we've never seen the internal articles of incorporation, and it's been reported different ways in the media, we really don't know what the ownership structure is. Chad could be the controlling partner and could fire anybody and everybody, maybe not. Anyhow just because PW or KA signed doesn't mean it's their personal entry, it's the corp's entry, and whoever controls the corp., controls the name, entry, et al. I gather we'll find out shortly who that person/person's are.

On the same note I have also seen it reported that Chad has pulled his backing from USF1 and is looking to back Campos/Dallara. As in PW and KA have been left to swim in their own ****. Leaving it solely up to them to get further funding and try to complete the car etc.. However if this is the case, CH would be writing off his losses at USF1 and moving on, not salvaging his investment.

Hurley was never really interested in F1. He will either write it off as a loss and move on to his next project or stay on board if Windsor and Anderson find a solution. Bernie has never really taken them seriously and seems more interested in Stefan taking a grid slot, but perhaps he will broker some kind of deal.

What's the worst that could happen if only 11 teams make it the first race? Is Bernie or the FIA legally bound to have 26 cars on the grid?

I think that pretty much coincides with my position as well, if you don't mind Donka. I doubt if Hurley has been so poorly advised as to give those clowns a check-in-hand, more like paying for the show and play it by ear? We are six months down the road, lease, a few computers and consultants, a couple of rented CNC's and a mini-autoclave, 40-some salaries, business class air-fares for PW to Heathrow, it's not like they've built anything?

How bad can it be, a million USD per month, perhaps not even that?

Raz

its a serious amount of money, im sure.

sad thing is if they fail then it would make it much harder for any other american team to join f1, and there are some very very good teams there.

i guess rockstar, or monster energy drink would be tempted, would be amusing to have robby gordon try and do f1 in addition to his current program

No they are not, I believe they are contracted to the race promoters to provide 16 cars to race, and if the number of entries falls below 16, the teams are contractually obliged to run 3rd cars.

The minimum entry is 20 cars and not 16 I think.

No matter what opinion one might have about Windsor's writings in the past, he has struck me as an honest guy, a true fan of the sport. I don't get the hatred towards him at this point. I have been very sceptic about the whole USF1 project and I do believe Windsor has made a bad job of it, but for what we know, he might have been taken for a ride himself. We don't know what he has been fed by his partners and he could be in a very difficult situation right now, when the true state of the situation will start to reveal itself.

I must confess, when Bernie kept on giving statements regarding the viability of USF1 and the prospect of them not making the grid, I was extremely skeptical and put it down to the ramblings of a old fool, and his way of giving USF1 the hurry up. The more information that leaked out, the more worried I became. It seems like PW and KA ran an absolute Micky Mouse operation. I'm staggered that USF1 and Campos actually got so far in securing a grid slot, judging by the remnants of the operation exposed to the public. Who the f**k enters into a business venture without a guaranteed funding structure in place? Or is my thinking of funding a start-up operation, no longer valid business practice in the 21st century? Seemly bright individuals and entrepreneurs like Campos, PW and KA are nothing but charlatans. What a joke.

Of course he appears honest to you. It would be remarkable if he didn't!

My problem with Windsor his excessive fanboyism over Hamilton aside is the fact he made a series of statements giving lavish promises

State of the art website
American drivers (superlicence is not an excuse Windsor knows how the system works being a journo and commentator)
Massive F1 database
Factory webcams
Thousands of hours of YouTube footage

Windsor has failed to deliver on every promise he made, I doubt he is a fraudster/scam artist but Windsor is the reason USF1 has been held to so much ridicule

Excellent post, Motormedia. I don't understand the Windsor-hate and I don't get the 'see I was right'-attitude from some posters as well. But this raises another question. A lot of posters - and who can blame them? - believed that the FIA-approval of US F1 must mean something. If US F1 doesn't show up, apparently, ehrm...

So the question is: how do you convince the FIA as a potential F1 team you are legit?

I take no pleasure at USF1's probable demise, Windsor has set F1 in America back a generation, maybe irreperably

I would love to see an American team in F1 truly going for it and showing the American get up and go mentality, what we have seen instead is Dumb And Dumber III - This Time They Go Racing and it is going to set America back big time in terms of F1

One thing is all the rumours and unverified reports over the last few weeks and especially the last few days. What is more worrying (for me) is the complete lack of any news from the team since sigining Lopez (apart from a few lines on FB). It's now so close to the season that the team should have had a car ready, crash tests should have been performed (which they might have without our knowledge, but that's only believable if you have the extremely optimistic rosy tinted glasses on...), second driver should have been signed and we should have had some launch dates etc. The lack of all of the above this close to Bahrain is not confidence inspiring

However, the Campos and USF1 situation makes for one of the most "interesting" build ups to an F1 season in years.

It's all one big game, like Donington /Gillet.

The "I was right attitude" comes from "I don't necesarily have to be a genius to see that this whole thing stinks to heaven", maybe.

Dubious backgrounds, FIA agenda, etc.

Understatement of the year? No, decade ...

Absolutely. All he has to do is clarify wha the letters stand for: Uncle Stefan's Formula One.

Done.

Dont these guys no what costings are? Here are a few examples... Basic business rule 101! Work out your costs, have funding in place+10-20% contingency set aside. Put your thoroughly researched business plan into action. Basic Business rule 102! Good Luck. What kind of business plan did USF1 and Campos have?

Yes, there were literally billions of American drivers ready to pounce into F1 that Windsor has personally shafted.

Mr Micawber's -- " "Something will turn up."

However, they failed to note Micawber's comments about the necessity of matching expenditure to income.

Remember when new teams where announced? It was June 12 2009. Now, remember what was going on at that time? Yes, it was FIA-FOTA war. And by that time it was raging on all fronts. FOTA was preparing to announce breakaway series (which they did on June 18). So Max needed not strong teams but the ones which will be obdient to him (and maybe to Bernie as well). It's easy to see how Manor and USF1 ticked that box but not that obvious in the case of Campos. OK, it looks like another conspiracy but I simply draw the lines between the dots.

I don't think those clowns are scoundrels per se, though their CV's are somewhat creative to put it that way,
just a couple of mediocritys from twenty years ago, completely out of their league at this day and age of F1.

An interesting part is that their entry is presented as "US F1 Team" with the FIA, like "Force India F1 Team"
or "Renault F1 Team", while the constructor is "US F1".

For those who knows a little bit about intellectual properties, there's a world of difference between "USF1" and
"US F1 Team", as "US" itself is hardly protectable and "F1 Team" is most generic. God is always in the details.

Raz

How long do your generations last?

I believe if a consortium of Rod Hull & EMU, The Chuckle Brothers and Keith Harris & Orville were given the task, they would have 2 cars prepared, tested and ready for Bahrain 2010. The whole saga surrounding USF1 and Campos has been shambolic. Didn't the FIA vet these people to see if their venture was even viable in the first place? The role of Max Mosley and especially his right-hand man Alan Donnelly, should come in for some serious questioning.

Campos is not in the same boat as USelessF1. They entered believing they were operating under a budget cap, and had sponsors pull out on them once this was reversed. They have a car ready and just need a bit of funding.

USelessF1 on the other hand was a sham from the start.

So, here is it, Prodrive on standby: http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_new...es_art_id=39956

'Standby' is intentionally misleading, all that Richard says is he will be open for future (ie: not for 2010, it's too late for that) options which doesn't really mean much.

Yes, this really is a "no news" news report....

terrible article title. misleading is an understatement

Just posted this tweet on the live forum but will copy it here

F1Lite Brian Bonner, USF1's head of business development, has left the American team amid rumours that YouTube has withdrawn it's backing.
13 minutes ago by F1Lite



Andy

This vid by Lotus F1 showing the factory being built, the car being built, shakedown, to launch... pretty much DESTROYS everything USF1 has put out YouTube/video wise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idtAvNkaMBQ

Well it destroyed it by default - Lotus F1 have an F1 car, USF1 have a tub so it's not surprising Lotus videos look better.

Shouldn't they build their own prototype first, a proper le mans winning one. Is it not a mild embarressment to beat by a lowly seller of hatchbacks and vans to the le mans crown while campaigning a vehicle that is really a lola not a prodrive/aston unit, not fufilling the pride of wealthy db9 owners.

You have to feel for Lopez.

He would be arriving at USF1 right about now to find an incomplete car, a mumbling excuse from Anderson Jr, and an AWOL Peter Windsor.

Poor guy.

How reliable is F1Lite ?

Is it a kid playing bedroom F1 journo or is it a reliable source ? I tend to only trust James Allen and Jonathan Noble on Twitter

Are we really sure on that front?

From this long-winded article it doesn't seem to be the patriotic afair you make it to be...

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/formu...F1-hurley_N.htm



IMO Hurley wasn't really hands-on with this thing, obviously, and he largely trusted Windsor and Anderson to come up with the goods... time went by quickly, and when January and then February came, he probably started to be more curious and found out like all of us that the whole thing was in shambles and the guys he trusted simply took a dump in his hands.

Like I said before, it looks like Hurley still wants to go racing, but apart from Lopez and maybe a couple of guys (how would he be able to tell who is worth keeping, trust Ken Anderson again?), I can't really see nothing of interest in Charlotte for him... it's just a race shop. Maybe buy back Anderson and install new people in there and take another shot at it? Why? for patriotic reasons? hmm..

I don't rule out Hurley more or less jumped ship...

Says on Crash.net that Bonner has accepted a new post with B4 Marketing.

Andy

I love how the last few pages have been discussed as facts. While I agree with many points, they haven't failed... yet. All evidence does point towards it though for sure.



Quite. He has some way of predicting these things, doesn't he? i.e end of FIA/FOTA war when common sense would prevail.



USF1, if it was going to work, in theory was going to be F1s gateway to US market. I predicted at the time, although I wasn't on this forum to make myself look totally correct, that USF1 were guaranteed a slot for this very reason alone during a time of FIA/FOTA uncertainty.



It appears so.



Agreed. Great video as well, haha, poor USF1 and their Bob Varsha tours of the factory.

Irrelevant. Name an American driver in the last 10 years who could have made it in F1. Name a driver around now who could make it. Windsor has not done anything to put those hopes back. He has tried to bring them forward.

The "I was right" attitude in my case comes from seeing the whole thing stunk to high heaven, and being attacked for it. The likes of DFV who have denied denied denied that any of the signs were pointing to what has come to pass need to be shown that what they were arguing against turned out to be correct, and that their position was wrong. It's the basis of the internet ;)

Easy there. I've pretty much given all hope on this team but I think you're celebrating a WEE bit too early at their demise.

Should probably wait until that official USF1: "We don't give a **** anymore. We quit." press release before breaking out the victory champagne.

That's pretty naive... such press releases never happen.

If you still can't call it, well, that's naive as well