Tag Archives: Peter Windsor

USF1 Driver Speculation

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Now that Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson’s USF1 project has been made public, speculation has been rife as to who could be the American drivers the team has stated they will employ in 2010 (and beyond). During the initial launch several names were mentioned so let’s take a look at some of the possibilities:

Marco Andretti
PLUS: A very well known name in F1 circles; Young (21)
MINUS: Would he trade a front-running IRL team for a back-of-the-grid F1 team?

Graham Rahal
PLUS: Well known racing name; Young (20)
MINUS: Would he trade a front-running IRL team for a back-of-the-grid F1 team?

Kyle Busch
PLUS: Fast, aggressive & known in Europe; Still young (23)
MINUS: Would he trade a front-running NASCAR team for a back-of-the-grid F1 team?

Danica Patrick
PLUS: A very well known face; Relatively young (26)
MINUS: Would she trade a front-running IRL team for a back-of-the-grid F1 team?

Scott Speed
PLUS: F1 experience; Still young (26)
MINUS: Would he trade a front-running NASCAR team for a back-of-the-grid F1 team (again)?

Are you seeing a pattern here?
OK, Sebastien Bourdais swapped THE best ChampCar team for a back-of-the-grid F1 team – but that was after he had won FOUR ChampCar titles! He was bored and wanted a new challenge…

Others possibly on the USF1 list?

Alex Gurney – a very well known F1 name but way too old at 34.
Casey Mears – another racing family, but again at 30 a little too old to start F1.
AJ Foyt IV – name recognition, yes. Still young (24) but has never shown much road-racing skill.
Ed Carpenter – deep pockets, but that’s about it.
Townsend Bell – technically skilled but too old (33).
Sarah Fisher – a woman equals publicity but she is really an oval racer.

So how does that leave us? With no one really. If the team succeeds even partially in 2010 then maybe someone at the top of our list will make the switch for 2011. For 2010 the possibility of having two American drivers is remote – more likely is a young one plucked from F3/Atlantic level, alongside a seasoned, foreign F1 campaigner, the obvious choice being Rubens Barrichello.

We shall see as things develop during this year.

– MCZF1

An American F1 Team?

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Reports out of North Carolina suggest that F1 journalist Peter Windsor is one of the main figures behind “USF1” – an American group planning an entry in 2010. The website www.usf1.com is owned by design engineer Ken Anderson, but features nothing but a logo at this point. Anderson was the former Technical Director at Ligier and Onyx in F1 before returning home to work with Chip Ganassi & AJ Foyt Racing. He then designed the G-Force IRL cars introduced in 1996 & 2000, as well as Dan Gurney’s All-American Racers-Toyota for CART. He last worked with Haas CNC in NASCAR while Windsor, former Ferrari and Williams F1 team manager, is a familiar face in the USA thanks to his work as Speed Channel’s pit reporter.

Rumors have the team setting up a base near Concord, North Carolina, where Anderson is a partner in the Wind Shear, Inc full size wind tunnel used by NASCAR teams and occasionally be F1 outfits. They have also been linked with the former Honda team currently for sale, since they would need a European base of operations for part of the season, but this option makes no mention of running the 2009 season.

With Indycar and NASCAR teams struggling to find sponsorship, even with the planned cost reductions in F1 it seems like a very odd time to try to launch an all-new team halfway around the world, especially when there is an off-the-shelf one available in Brackley – that comes complete with Ross Brawn! Even so, we will be following developments closely.

– MCZF1