US F1 Asks Fia For Deferred Entry
US F1, the cash-strapped new entrant to the grid, has applied to world motorsport’s governing body, the FIA, to defer their entry into the F1 World Championship for 12 months.
The team, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is among four newcomers entered for the 2010 season.
Team principal Ken Anderson stated: ‘If the FIA say no (to the deferral) we are done. If they say yes we can put it back in gear and go.’
Anderson confirmed that FIA technical chief Charlie Whiting visited the team’s headquarters last week to inspect the team’s state of readiness.
‘He looked at the factory and was happy that we’ve got all we need to make a perfectly good Formula 1 car. We’re on hold. Our future’s in the hands of the FIA.
‘There were issues sponsor-wise in January that knocked us back a few weeks, and those meant we couldn’t make it in 2010.
‘We put our entry in with the FIA in December 2008 and wanted to start work on the car in March 2009, but the delay in signing the Concorde Agreement (the document by which F1 is governed) until July meant we couldn’t start until August. We were on course, despite an insanely tight schedule, but then people got cold feet.’
Anderson said there was ‘a sprinkle of truth’ in reports that US F1 had investigated ‘partnering up with another new team’.
He added that a deferral would allow the team to rebuild and, depending on the testing regulations, get track time in preparation for an entry in 2011.
‘The doom-and-gloom people were just waiting for us to fail. But no one said it was easy, and we went out on a limb to design and build our own car.’
Lotus and Virgin, who have already been testing, and Hispania – formerly known as Campos – are the other new teams for 2010 and all hope to be on the grid for the opening race.
If US F1 pull out, it could create an opening for the newly-established Serbian-backed Stefan Grand Prix team, which has been lobbying to take their place on the grid.
