USF1/USGPE News

O

O_Danny_Boy

Rookie
I figured with the team coming on-line there will be alot of news that doesn't necessarily fit in the drivers or race threads. Such as, the creator of PayPal and YouTube has signed on to run the corporate/media strategy for the team.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77778

A guy who was able to create YouTube and grow it into something he was able to sell for 1.65 Billion dollars is a pretty good guy to put in charge of your corporate strategy if you ask me.
 
I read also that they're going to have 2 bases; the main one with the factory will be in Charlotte in the US and the second will be in Spain.

I expect the Spain base will be a lot more heavily used than the US base, purely because of logistics and time.
Isn't the closest major airport to Charlotte about 150 miles away?

If they need a part in a hurry during a GP it's going to be tight for them to get it all the way from Charlotte to wherever the race is.

Spain is not an obvious choice for the European base too.
I wonder what their reasons are for choosing there?
 
Brogan said:
I read also that they're going to have 2 bases; the main one with the factory will be in Charlotte in the US and the second will be in Spain.

I expect the Spain base will be a lot more heavily used than the US base, purely because of logistics and time.
Isn't the closest major airport to Charlotte about 150 miles away?

If they need a part in a hurry during a GP it's going to be tight for them to get it all the way from Charlotte to wherever the race is.

Spain is not an obvious choice for the European base too.
I wonder what their reasons are for choosing there?
Click to expand

The Charlotte Airport is a fairly major airport, it is a pretty common stop if your heading along the eastern seaboard. I'm not sure about the amount of European direct flights they have, the closest major international airport would be Atlanta which is pretty far away but I would imagine there would be quite a few Charlotte to Atlanta to Europe flights.

I believe the decision on Spain is because they may be partnering with Epsilon motorsports or at least they are going to use their facility according to this...

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/02/04/usf1 ... an-f1-team

Also supposedly two former GP2 winners have come to them with Sponsor in hand that would pay 3/4 of the operating budget...

http://www.carthusiast.com/usf1-team-lo ... -2063.html
 
O_Danny_Boy said:
I believe the decision on Spain is because they may be partnering with Epsilon motorsports or at least they are going to use their facility according to this...
Click to expand
Aha....that explains it then.

I wonder who the 2 GP2 drivers are with that much sponsorship?
They'd be daft to not at least consider one or both of them, well, depending on their GP2 performances of course.
 
I heard a rumour that USF1 are having problems.

Not sure if it's logistical, technical, financial or something else. Does anyone have any news on this?

Personally I hope USF1 can hit the ground running as we know how big the US market is when it comes to sponsors, etc.
A US team doing well in F1 can only be good for the sport and could result in more income for the teams, more drivers, new circuits, etc.
 
O_Danny_Boy said:
There is also news that Sebastien Loeb has talked to USF1 as well
Click to expand

Those rumours just won't go away, will they? I just think USF1's raison d'étre is to get in American drivers to F1, with perhaps an experienced driver in tow for the first year or two. Well, surely the experienced driver should be an experienced F1 driver, rather than an experienced rally driver or else it negates the point.

My chosen driver if I was USF1? Jarno Trulli.

However, bringing Loeb in to USF1 would be like the Argentinian Rugby Union setting up a Super 14 team in Buenos Aires to bring through young Pumas and bringing in half the Leeds Rhinos rugby league team to do it - they may be successful but it is a different discipline!
 
I think we discussed US drivers on the "stars of tomorrow" thread didn't we?

I agree they need an experienced driver to help with set up, etc. Not sure I'd go for Trulli though.

However, which US driver would be a good fit? There aren't really that many to choose from so they may even end up with 2 non-US drivers for the first couple of seasons until they get some sort of testing programme set up.

Oh hang on, all testing is banned so that's not going to work either
 
I don't put much into the Loeb talks, I would think he would want to step into an established ride and is simply using USF1 as a bargaining chip. Once again I would love to see Graham Rahal in one of the USF1 cars but with no testing they might have to bite the bullet and go with non-US drivers. In any case all the new teams really need to be granted some testing time. If not I see no possible way they don't get slaughtered for at least half of the season. It would be beneficial for F1 to have the newcomers up to speed as fast as possible...
 
O_Danny_Boy said:
In any case all the new teams really need to be granted some testing time. If not I see no possible way they don't get slaughtered for at least half of the season. It would be beneficial for F1 to have the newcomers up to speed as fast as possible...
Click to expand

Agreed.
Especially if this the car they plan to enter with LOL

usf1car.jpg


Sorry, couldn't resist.
 
A small aside from Bernie in an interview with the BBC: Ecclestone also confirmed there were doubts over the composition of the 2010 F1 grid, admitting one of the new teams expected to make their debut next season, US F1, were "a doubt".

Opens up a place for (delete as appropriate) BMW Qadback Sauber Petronas Ferrari
 
That's the same rumour I posted about a week or so ago.

I haven't been able to find any confirmation though either way so it's not clear why the rumour exists.
 
Oh there is another driver rumor for USF1, Franck Montagny is rumored to be in contention possibly already signing a contract.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/02092009/ ... berth.html

This is old news (dated Sept. 2nd) so if a contract was truly signed I think we would have heard more about it by now. I was hoping we would see more names start coming off the list (Patrick who signed with Andretti Green to stay in Indy and a possible stock car developmental deal) but it seems like the list just keeps growing. I think it would be in their best interest to start nailing some of this stuff down to show they are serious about making the grid at the first race.
 
Has anyone found anything on the USF1 not being ready rumor that does not directly site the Bernie quote? It seems that its all a direct result of that one sentence and all the news sites have run with it but have not added any new sources I have found. And we all know that Bernie is a whack job crazy man so I don't put much into what he says. It seems as if he is just perpetuating negative press against the team...
 
O_Danny_Boy said:
Has anyone found anything on the USF1 not being ready rumor that does not directly site the Bernie quote?
Click to expand
Nope, nothing at all.

I guess Bernie does have access to some information that most other people don't but like you say, there has been nothing other than that one sentence.
 
Apparently there is a rumor that even with Cosworth under contract to provide motors to USF1 that Williams and USF1 may do the switcheroo with USF1 taking over the Toyota engines and Williams going with Cosworth. Some of the other new teams are also interested in doing the same.

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=347531&FS=F1

Also once again Kyle Busch dispels the F1 rumors for a full time USF1 ride but would consider a one time race deal (which would be disastrous). Which is a great thing because if there was one driver who could make me root against USF1 it would be Kyle Busch.

http://www.racer.com/Kyle-Busch-answers-your-questions-Oct-1/article/151205/
 

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