USF1 First Test to be in Atlanta
US F1 will make their official track debut in Alabama in February after being given a special dispensation by the FIA to test on home soil.
The outfit was the granted the exemption as it is one of four new teams to enter Formula One this season and the only one not based in Europe.
“The first thing that needs to be said is that if this was 2011 and we were an existing team we would be at the first test,” sporting director Peter Windsor told the official F1 website.
“But because we are a new team and have started from nothing, the first time we will run the car will be in the United States at the Barber Motorsport Park in Alabama.
“This is the circuit that was nominated by the FIA for us. We’ve got this dispensation from the FIA, which is fantastic, because we are not based in Europe.
“We are the only team that has a test circuit outside Europe, so it is totally logical for us to run the car for the first time in the US at the beginning of February.
“We are allowed three sessions in the US. Then we will ship it to Spain to do some testing there before we fly out to Bahrain.”
The Charlotte-based team are the only outfit not to have confirmed at least one driver, but Windsor insists he and team principal Ken Anderson are on the verge of making an announcement.
“We’ve been talking to some great racing drivers over the last couple of months, and it is very difficult to choose between the good drivers that are around,” added Windsor.
“I think there are still a lot on offer and the difficult thing will be to choose only two out of the 10 that are available.
“It’s a difficult job and I hate having to do that. We have not signed our forward deals yet in terms of the contracts, but we are pretty near to announcing.”
Speed is reporting Pedro de la Rosa, Jacques Villeneuve and Alex Wurz, who have all been rumored to be in the mix have all been either passed over or have looked elsewhere themselves.
Latest rumor suggests (first reported here in November) José María López will get the first seat with the first year start-up squad.
His signing may be dependent on him bringing $8-$11m to the team and, presumably, being able to get an F1 Superlicence. Lopez raced in GP2 in 2005 and 2006 and even managed to win a race and was a Renault test driver in the same period.
Another sticking point may be a relationship he has with Flavio Briatore. In 2002 Lopez signed a 10-year management deal with Flavio Briatore’s company in order to become one of the Renault young drivers, and it should be noted that the FIA has ruled that no Briatore-managed driver will be granted an F1 superlicence.
That said, as Lopez was dropped by Renault it is unclear whether Briatore is still involved in his career.
A final thought, and one dependent on USF1 making this years, and next years grid. If Red Bull’s grand experiment fails and Scott Speed continues to struggle in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Speed will be USF1’s American driver in 2011.
UPDATE: I’ve added a video that USF1 just posted on their website of the first crash test conducted in England last week.
First comment of the new year. A healthy and wealthy one to you and yours.
If I had the time, track access, and energy, I’d make a trip to see the first USF1 car make it’s track debut.
The track record by an Indycar I believe is 1′09.45; it will be interesting to see how they compare. If they are not close to or faster than, I’d say they are in trouble. If they manage to break it there will be much hoop-de-doo about it. Any positive news is good news, regardless of the relevance.
Thanks, and the same tidings to you and yours in the new year.
As you may have noticed I took a bit of a break over the holidays, with good reason, but now that the seasons for all the racing venues are just around the corner it should be a pretty exciting late winter/early spring.
I didn’t see any official records on the track website, but Will Power holds the unofficial lap record at 1 min 9.4557 sec in his Dallara-Honda in March of last year and Max Papis toured the track in a Daytona Prototype at 1 min 20.613 sec (official) in 2004.
Did you see this report, the new Campos team is allegedly for sale in it’s entirety or in part.
One whose supposedly in the mix to buy the team is A1GP boss Tony Teixeira. Just what F1 needs another dimwit as part of its ownership group.
Teixeira?! I thought they were still chasing him for unpaid A1GP debts. If this is true then it demonstrates how foolish the selection process for the new teams was. How the hell a outfit like ProDrive can go begging is just plain stupid.
I was one of USGPE’s detractors, so I’m happy to be proven wrong. Good luck to them.
BTW, happy new year to you & the family, the new bike looks the “dogs bollocks”, very nice. I too am still on holidays…..now if I can just steel myself to leave the Great Barrier Reef & return to Sydney on Tuesday.
Still synchronize swimming with Great Whites I see. Must be nice to have so much time off.