I agree. It's the suggestion that it's locked down by the rules I don't agree with.

Chers.,

In a new (yes, another one) interview, Peter Windsor has confirmed they are considering both Jonathan Summerton and Alexander Rossi to teammate López, but they still consider having an experienced driver alongside the Argentinean, and they have talked to Alex Wurz and De la Rosa. Windsor said they are not considering Villeneuve.

http://www.corsaonline.com.ar/2009/11/24/N...ue-buscamos.php

Yep..,

Didn't Windsor say they'd have a roller at the end of November? I think it's safe to say that if we don't see anything by the end of the week, then we can speculate if they will make the grid or not.

IMHO, Manor will be the only new team to survive for years to come. That is, if Branson is really backing the team.

Campos will be mega. Unless Stefan GP gets a start then we will have a great battle of the new teams.


USGPE, no roller Get your finger off the Button Windsor. Grow a mo too.

http://www.mynameisirl.com/

The latest episode

Hi there!

Pictures of the USF1 GP factory, in Charlotte USA.

Photos: Sutton Images

Now, watch the haters come in and try to pick it apart as a scam. The machines are models made of polystyrene! The computer screen is a photoshop! The people are all mannequins!

On a completely different note, what happened to Lopez?

My personal feeling is the USF1 is going to have a mixed season. Im particularly concerned with their rate of development through the course of a season.

My second concern is their driver choice. Why not go out and land Villeneuve as soon as possible? People love him here in the States.

We do have a connect within the Cosworth team, with a former director joining USF1. I hope we can get some value out of that.

I have no concerns whatsoever about them making the grid. They are 1 of the 4 new teams and will be on par with Lotus from the start, through the course of a season, im not so sure.

The "New Teams" coming in F1 is going to be great I think.

There will be an unofficial "championship" between them and I think it will be enjoyable to watch.

I am fully against the two tier rules concept, but from the standpoint of potentially 5 new teams entering the same season, I think its something that will make 2010 unique.

Can't you see it was photographed on a film set. Everything is to scale 1:8. Just appears amazingly lifelike due to CGI etc.

Where's the fridge?

you mean donuts?

Good question... in the last week there has been a lot of communications and papers from one place to the other, USF1 lawyers working with the ACA lawyers and all that burocratic stuff... a precontract should be signed very soon according to the aproximate schedule Felipe McGough talked about. After that, next week, in the best of cases, López could be announced from BsAs as a USF1 driver. That if everything goes as it has gone so far by now...

Where's the car?

This.

You people know that those pictures are not particularly new, right? They're from October.

It's funny how some people expect to see pictures and 'evidence' like that from USF1 to be sure they will be on the grid next season, and don't expect the same from the other new squads...

No I mean the FRIDGE. The one with the door that Ken keeps his top-secret designs on




(OK, I'm making a possibly gnomic reference to the ubiquitous USF1 send up videos that have been doing the rounds here)

Agreed. It's funny how a thread like this exists in the first place. Will Ferrari make it to the grid 2010?

USF1 is like evolution. When the car comes they'll go "show me your intermediates! how come we don't see pics of a half USF1 car?"

Well we do have SOME evidence that Ferrari can build an F1 car

I think they are idiots if they don't take Kobayashi and the Toyota. Development would go much faster and you wouldn't make Toyota mistakes.

They already have a contract with Cosworth. If the took the Toyota chassis, they'd have to run Cosworth engines.

I think that USF1 is some kind of trick

http://twitter.com/USF1

perhaps their communication strategy is more aimed at the US?

but their website looks like crap: http://www.usgpe.com/

BrawnGP had a website up and running one week after it was launched.. it was not the most advanced website.. but still it had *content*

Their website could do with some more content...

Does anybody know if Manor/Virgin have a F1 website (I can't seem to find one)?

There's this thing.

All they've done since they first came to light preseason on that webpage is put a picture on it.

Well, they have a working 'Contact us" botton. Manor/Virgin doesn't have even that.

I guess there would be some problems switching a Toyota chassis to Cosworth Power. I can't even remember if Toyota ran KERS and the aerodynamic problems of slimming the chassis down and all the cooling. I just think it is smart if you can learn from other peoples mistakes and not go down the wrong path. Kobayashi is a serviceable driver, but that means they really don't have a development driver which I see as a bigger problem. Wurz and Kobayashi would have been a very good driver lineup.

BOMB!!

The Argentinian President, madame Cristina Fernández will receive in presidential palace to Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson, the USF1's managers,

http://www.corsaonline.com.ar/2009/12/07/N...la-agenda-k.php

President Cristina Fernandez want sign José López for Two years with USF1 team, for revival the campaign "Visit Argentina" like does Carlos Reutemann in the seventies.,

If I had to guess, USF1 is gonna build it's team around Lopez and put De La Rosa as the setup driver.


Now that I think about, with a Spaniard and an Argentine (with YPF connections), I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say Repsol would somehow end up as USF1's title sponsor.

Repsol Sponsorship would at least assure that the team arrives in Bahrain.

USF1's arrival in Bahrain does not hinge solely on their sponsor dollars. There has been nothing to indicate that they are in financial trouble. Aside from the usual rumour, specualtion and anti-American sentiment. I don't get why you guys all want an American Grand Prix, but you don't want a American team. If an American team guaranteed an American race, you'd be all for it.

This was more of a cheap jab than Anti-Americanism (actually, I am American ). I'm sure they'll make the grid, I'm just saying with a major sponsor backing them, (along with Argentine Goverment support), they'll be in excellent shape and the speculation would finally die off.

That said, I'm not thrilled with the team at the moment as they won't run an American as they said they would. (Not their fault, no American has a super-license.)

I think it's for the better. This way, they'll be an established team when an American joins, and the whole thing won't rest solely on the success or failure of the American driver.

OMFG so now we judge new F1 teams by their web sites not how they race when the season starts?
Are you fans of F1 or just wannabe critics in waiting?

Well, of course the Argentinean government is not going to finance the team: USF1 asked 8 million dollars from the ACA to get a seat for López. Until a few days ago they have around 80% of the money, but I guess this meeting with the President means the goverment could be filling the last couple of million needed. I guess more than a half of those 8 million come from Argentina's goverment. USF1 will need at least other 40 million to race, but that doesn'r seem a problem. At least Windsor said that many people will be surprised by their sponsors when they announced them next year. As for the Repsol-YPF issue, by now there's no indication they will be supporting López: they have negotiations with the oil company, but, for what we know, they did not come to a good end, as they hadn't either for Guerrieri: YPF is focused on the Argentinean national motor racing, and Repsol takes the international part. But there's a petroleum company behind López effort, a company from Patagonia, but I don't know its name (it's not YPF, of course)

Interesting post, good information.

I was in Argentina the other week and was surpirsed and pleased to see that one of the brands of petrol for sale is called "Fangio"!

Would be a great hook up to have a driver in F1 sponsored by Fangio brand gas!

Took this snap:

That is so cool!!!

we live in an era where websites are effective means to communicate with the public, fans etc etc.... that's all..

The bulk of any race teams sites are basically repositories for press releases and photos. While not as polished, many of the fan sites have deeper content. Check out Ferrari or McLaren. As we say in these parts there is a lot of sizzle, but no steak. They look good but they don't provide anything that you can't get from any independent sources and frequently if not most of the time lag behind the independent outlets. None of the new teams have anywhere near a complete site at this point. I don't blame them at this point, they've all got plenty to do to get the cars out the door. Toyota and BMW had flashy Web sites. How did that work out for them?

Not really, given the fact that USF1 stated from the beginning that they would have a youtube channel showing every evolution of a team in the making from the get go. It was supposed to be an F1 reality show.

So far, bugger all.

Chances are, that the reason is that this youtube channel would be pretty dull. Four employees looking at pictures.

You are extrapolating a timeline based on your opinion. You are assuming it should have been done by now but if one were to read what the principals have said it becomes clear that the timeline never was immediate. For example just after taking the old JGR shop Anderson gave a tour/interview to Speed and stated the interactive portion was slated for phase two, into 2010. I've pointed this out to you prior to this by posting a link with an interview the guy in charge of that portion where he stated it wouldn't start until the season started. To me you have zero credibility on this issue as your obvious bias against USF1 negates your ability to post objectively on the matter.

Have to agree with you. The majority of teams websites are not worth bothering with.

Hi there!

Today, this morning, all the radio shows in Córdoba (ARG), talks about President Cristina Fernandez want sign José López for Two years with USF1 team, for revival the campaign "Visit Argentina" like does Carlos Reutemann in the seventies.,

The Cadena Tres huge Radio network, friends of López family, sayd that literally..,

Regards

P.D: Ouhh., the petrol Company is named PECOM., and they have already a racing Team in the FIA GT, and this year they WON the 24 Hrs Spa Francorchamps.,
And have a team in the WRC, too.....

In spite of all the overwhelming evdence that suggests they'll make it? We've seen more from USF1 than we have from the likes of Campos, except that you all seem to take Campos seriously and think USF1 is a scam.

I'm in America, and want USF1 to be at the forefront more than anybody, but, what have we actually seen from them?

Some sterile photos of some machines, an office with some dudes at a computer.

A few generic computer generated images.

Like I said a few posts back, "where's the car?"

Where is anyone's car? No one has launched yet, and likely won't til January 1st.