Usf1 lack of activity

[BETO]

The new Formula One team from the US might be just a dream not coming true.
Brawn is surprised by the USF1 lack of activity, one of the drivers who was supposed to be racing has not signed yet, the team may not even start the first race, and some rumors say they might sale the team all together.
I'm surprised not to see anything in Speed or any other sports channel advertising and promoting the USF1 Team a lot more, and even when they showed the "offices" during the last F1 race it looked kind of "staged", empty walls, they just show computer drawings, not even a wheel inside the building?
What's going on?

[Dos XX]

Things will pick up come december/january

[CaracasE30]

They SPEED publicity stunt on Racing Per Machett was a punch aimed at the critics but in the end I think the critics won out. If anything, it would buy them time and quell fears within the paddock but as with you, it all seemed very sketchy.

...the whole time i was thinking "this is probably in the SPEED studio somewhere in the basement and staged with a bunch of interns"

I must say that I do wish them well and would love to see them make the grid. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

[tylerAWe36m3]

a friend of mine is working for the team. he has recently moved from cali to north carolina where the team is based. i haven't heard from him in a while because he is busy, so this is a good sign. he wouldn't up root his life and move accross the country if the team wasn't going according to plan.

keep the faith brothers.

[PDWebb]

I was surprised to see a camera was even let in the door, although I'm glad they were able to visit. From what I've seen over the years, teams don't often show their inner workings. I did enjoy seeing the bits on Redbull operations throughout the season.

[wrcdave]

Isn't there testing ban until January? No rush to get drivers or a full scale model done yet. I'm sure USF1 has things moving along in the windtunnel which is the most important thing.

[MC EUROS]

Originally Posted by wrcdave

Isn't there testing ban until January? No rush to get drivers or a full scale model done yet. I'm sure USF1 has things moving along in the windtunnel which is the most important thing.

besides who gives a fu*k what brawn thinks about usf1 anyway

[Christopher@BRM]

My bet is that neither Brawn (Honda is no longer paying the bills) or USF1 make the starting grid for race 1.

[Ianbiz]

Well there hasnt been much said about Manor and Campos minus their driver lineups

[BburgBimmerMan]

Originally Posted by Christopher@BRM

My bet is that neither Brawn (Honda is no longer paying the bills) or USF1 make the starting grid for race 1.

Yeah, that'll happen...

Maybe USF1 will have problems, but the Constructor's/Driver's champions just won a fat bit of cash and have sponsors lined up to sign finally... good luck with your bet...

[ArticM3]

Originally Posted by BburgBimmerMan

Yeah, that'll happen...

Maybe USF1 will have problems, but the Constructor's/Driver's champions just won a fat bit of cash and have sponsors lined up to sign finally... good luck with your bet...

This, plus Mercedes just bought a huge chunk of the team (either directly or indirectly through a Middle Eastern holding company/parent company)

[Christopher@BRM]

Originally Posted by BburgBimmerMan

Yeah, that'll happen...

Maybe USF1 will have problems, but the Constructor's/Driver's champions just won a fat bit of cash and have sponsors lined up to sign finally... good luck with your bet...

I don't care how successful a team is. If they don't have funding they can't race. Honda was contractually obligated to fit the bill for 2009. This is not the case for 2010. Since Brawn is no longer "factory backed" I think it will be extremely difficult to come-up with the cash to run a full campaign, regardless of their 2009 success (which wasn't nearly as good towards the end of the season as it was at the beginning).

Originally Posted by ArticM3

This, plus Mercedes just bought a huge chunk of the team (either directly or indirectly through a Middle Eastern holding company/parent company)

And, if this is true, I bet the team won't be called Brawn - in which case I win my bet.

[jonmullen]

They could be waiting around to see what other teams go belly up (Toyota, BMW , Renault maybe) and then swoop in like vultures to buy up their intellectual property and everything else. Or they could be half-assing it and not make the grid, it's really hard to say.

I hope they're there to start the season but at the same time I've already got my favorite teams and am not particularly fond of Mr. Windsor.

[5speed300]

Based in North Carolina eh? Where at, maybe I can go for a spy run.

[wrcdave]

Wouldn't it make sense for a new team like USF1 to approach the sponsers from Toyota? I'm sure they would be easier to sign up being part of F1 for the past several years now. Also why can't any US drivers be FIA licensed in time for next season? Didn't Kimi go from like 10 kart races to an F1 drive? Sounds like F1 politics to me.

[Mr.M]

I have a feeling they're doing it with the "good ol boys" mentality, thinking a few guys with good ideas are gonna get them there. F1 doesn't work like that though.

[shim]

Originally Posted by wrcdave

Wouldn't it make sense for a new team like USF1 to approach the sponsers from Toyota? I'm sure they would be easier to sign up being part of F1 for the past several years now. Also why can't any US drivers be FIA licensed in time for next season? Didn't Kimi go from like 10 kart races to an F1 drive? Sounds like F1 politics to me.

10 kart races to F1? lol no. he did exceptionally well in Formula Renault and Peter Sauber put in a recommendation to the FIA board to get his superlicense. the requirements are pretty strict to get a superlicense, so it's not like any American driver can go get one. they have to be in the top points standings of an open wheel series like IRL, GP2, F3, F2, etc. also, they have to have like 300km of testing experience in an F1 car. otherwise, under rare exceptions can the FIA grant the license. i think WRC champ Sebastien Loeb had the credentials necessary, but the FIA still didn't approve him.

[bigrojo37]

The USF1 is happening. I have some sources and it is indeed happening. I can not say who those sources are or what they do for the team, but they are for real.

[Hugo]

Originally Posted by MC EUROS

besides who gives a fu*k what brawn thinks about usf1 anyway

If you know who Ross Brawn is, you should probably care. Without him, Schumacher would have two champoinships. Not seven.

Originally Posted by Christopher@BRM

My bet is that neither Brawn (Honda is no longer paying the bills) or USF1 make the starting grid for race 1.

Yeah, because no one wants to sponsor a team that won both championships their first year out. Yeah yeah yeah, it used to be Honda, but Honda used to suck, and Brawn turned it upside down even tough they had to switch to Mercedes engines at the last minute.

Originally Posted by Christopher@BRM

I don't care how successful a team is. If they don't have funding they can't race. Honda was contractually obligated to fit the bill for 2009. This is not the case for 2010. Since Brawn is no longer "factory backed" I think it will be extremely difficult to come-up with the cash to run a full campaign, regardless of their 2009 success (which wasn't nearly as good towards the end of the season as it was at the beginning).

And, if this is true, I bet the team won't be called Brawn - in which case I win my bet.

They have had sponsors lining for next year for a while now. And even if Mercedes bought a stake in the team, they have no plans to rename it, and they also own a decent stake in McLaren. The Brawn name sells.

I do not think that Brawn will repeat the successes of 2009. Everyone will up their game and Button just isn't that good.

As for USF1, I say wait and see. I'm a bit skeptical of ANY new F1 team to begin with. It's up to them to silence their critics. The only problem is that everything from the US is seen as redneck-ish versus european standards, and everything related to the US in recent F1 history has been a disaster.

- Detroit GP on a shitty circuit
- Las Vegas GP in the parking lot of the Caesar's Palace
- Michael Andretti
- The Michelin fiasco at Indy
- Scott Speed

It's like there's an incompatibility there...

[danny123]

Originally Posted by Hugo

Yeah, because no one wants to sponsor a team that won both championships their first year out. Yeah yeah yeah, it used to be Honda, but Honda used to suck, and Brawn turned it upside down even tough they had to switch to Mercedes engines at the last minute.

Well Honda spent a bunch of there time and money on the new car only to pull out and sell it all to Brawn. Plus the whole double diffuser thing helped them win the championship in my opinion. I dont think theyll be very comptetive next year, they will be more like what we saw the 2nd half of the season.

[BburgBimmerMan]

Originally Posted by Christopher@BRM

I don't care how successful a team is. If they don't have funding they can't race. Honda was contractually obligated to fit the bill for 2009. This is not the case for 2010. Since Brawn is no longer "factory backed" I think it will be extremely difficult to come-up with the cash to run a full campaign, regardless of their 2009 success (which wasn't nearly as good towards the end of the season as it was at the beginning).

they will have full support from either sponsors or more money from Mercedes. They will be on the grid, they will be on the grid still majority controlled by Ross et. al.

And, if this is true, I bet the team won't be called Brawn - in which case I win my bet.

they will have full support from either sponsors or more money from Mercedes. They will be on the grid, they will be on the grid still majority controlled by Ross et. al.

They will still be called Brawn-Mercedes, as they were this entire year... so you aren't likely to get that one right either, sir.

[Hugo]

Originally Posted by danny123

Well Honda spent a bunch of there time and money on the new car only to pull out and sell it all to Brawn. Plus the whole double diffuser thing helped them win the championship in my opinion. I dont think theyll be very comptetive next year, they will be more like what we saw the 2nd half of the season.

And Brawn is the man who came up with it (or the interpretation that allowed it).

At the beginning of the season, Williams, Brawn and Toyota were the only teams who had it. I didn't seen too many victories from the other two teams.

Ross Brawn is a master at using the rules to their full extent. Anything can happen, but I expect nothing less from him in 2010.

Things would be different if the rules had been the same for a decade, and bigger teams had 10 years of development in their cars. But again, 2010 is almost starting up with a clean sheet of paper.

They won't win every race because their drivers won't be the best, but I expect the car to be good.

[LJSE34]

I'm sure they're busy working on their new car, team and everything else. It's normal for F1 teams to keep progress on next year's car secret anyway.
I've also read very little about the other new teams, with the exception of Lotus maybe.

[bigrojo37]

Here we go again with the diffusers. Brawn did their homework along with a couple of other teams. Other teams did not. Brawn got off to a fast start, fast enough that by the end of the year others could not make up ground because we simply ran out of races.

[jonmullen]

Originally Posted by Hugo

If you know who Ross Brawn is, you should probably care. Without him, Schumacher would have two champoinships. Not seven.

Brawn was at Benetton as technical director when Schumacher won the first two, so you could call him responsible for all seven.

Originally Posted by Hugo

I do not think that Brawn will repeat the successes of 2009. Everyone will up their game and Button just isn't that good.

+1 for sure, I don't care if they started working on the new car in 2008, they obviously can't keep pace with Ferrari and McLaren's development spending, especially without Max around to eff with Ferrari.

Originally Posted by Hugo

As for USF1, I say wait and see. I'm a bit skeptical of ANY new F1 team to begin with. It's up to them to silence their critics. The only problem is that everything from the US is seen as redneck-ish versus european standards, and everything related to the US in recent F1 history has been a disaster.

- Detroit GP on a shitty circuit
- Las Vegas GP in the parking lot of the Caesar's Palace
- Michael Andretti
- The Michelin fiasco at Indy
- Scott Speed

It's like there's an incompatibility there...

You'd think if you're a team run by a TV personality and funded by YouTube you'd be able to drum up some interest here in the states but I haven't heard anything about them off the Speed channel. I was in Ireland when Lewis won his first race and it was on the front page. USF1 got a little coverage in the NYT but as far as I or anyone outside the biz can tell, they're struggling on the development and PR fronts.