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Before this gets too much press, another Danica/F1 rumor

Danica Patrick could drive for U.S. Formula One team in 2010
1 hour ago

MADRID — An American team will be racing in Formula One from 2010, and IndyCar driver Danica Patrick is a candidate to fill one of its seats.

USF1, which will be officially unveiled Feb. 24, will have a staff of at least 100, a working budget of 50 million euros (C$79.6 million) and an aim to put two American drivers on the starting grid. The team is looking at testing out a number of candidates, especially the 26-year-old Patrick.

"She's great. She gets a lot of press," USF1 technical director Ken Anderson said. "(Indianapolis Motor Speedway president) Tony George would probably be pretty mad with me if I took her out of the IRL but we'll see.

"I don't know if it's something she wants to do. We'd certainly love to test her and go from there."

NASCAR driver Scott Speed, who raced 28 times for F1 team Toro Rosso from 2006-'07, is also a candidate.

Conor Daly - son of former F1 driver Derek Daly - and Josef Newgarden are also being mentioned, with both drivers presently competing in European junior categories.

The team will be based out of Charlotte, N.C., and with much of the technology coming from the United States means that "being the only game in town in the U.S. means there're a lot of companies we can lean on to outsource," according to Anderson.

Officials with motor racing's governing body did not immediately return messages looking for confirmation that USF1's entry had been accepted.

The team is currently looking for a secondary base in Europe, most likely sharing with Epsilon Euskadi's team headquarters in northern Spain.

"We're talking to (F1 engineer) Sergio Rinland about basing it at Espselon. It's a beautiful city, it's certainly top of our list," said Anderson, who worked as a designer and engineer in F1 and IndyCar. "Spain makes a lot of sense with all the winter testing."

Epsilon Euskadi is active in Le Mans and there is a wind tunnel there that meets FIA standards.

Getting back into F1 was a no-brainer for Anderson.

"It's the biggest sport in the world and the biggest TV show in the world," he said. "NASCAR has just become a national sport, never mind an international sport."

With the global economic downturn, more independent teams are possible, especially since FIA president Max Mosley stepped in to reign in the costs with sweeping regulation changes and cost-cutting coming into effect to avoid any other teams from pulling out.

Honda's exit in December is no surprise to Anderson since the Japanese manufacturer's core business interests lay elsewhere.

"Mosley had to step in and stop F1 from killing itself with the manufacturers throwing ungodly money and people and resources at it," he said. "It's got to get back to a real business like Frank Williams owns Williams, Ron Dennis owns McLaren, Eddie Jordan owns Jordan and they all had to show a profit at the end of the year and, therefore, had to make intelligent decisions.

"One little hiccup like this and it's all sort of imploded."

The drop in costs has "levelled the playing field" although Anderson is targeting points to start.

Pete Windsor, a former team manager at Ferrari and Williams, will partner Anderson and run the competition side of the team..

Anderson remains a throwback to the late 80s and early 90s of F1 when he worked at Williams, Ligier and Onyx.

"In '92, the Williams was the coolest car ever with active suspension, (anti-brake system), that was kind of the peak of technology and their budget for that was less than 30 million pounds (C$53.4 million)," Anderson said. "I missed the days when we could do some crazy things."

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy on March 1, 2009 at 12:25pm

from autosport.com

Danica Patrick says she would be hesitant about committing to any offer from the new USF1 team, having admitted that she would have a lot to lose if a Formula One move did not succeed.

The IndyCar Series race-winner was one of several American drivers mentioned by the USF1 founders during the public launch of their plans.

She said that she would think very carefully before accepting any offer of an F1 test as her US career remained her priority.

"The first thing I think of is does it even fit?" Patrick told reporters during a media event in Texas this week.

"Is it going to get in the way of my IndyCar season? Is it going to get in the way of my prior obligations? Is it going to make me tired? Is it going to be something that's not going to just really work into the schedule and then also is it something that I really want to do?"

Patrick acknowledged that trying F1 would be a gamble and that she would need to be absolutely convinced that she and her team would be competitive.

"I don't believe that it's very productive to lead people on if it's not something that I'm interested in because you're really opening yourself up then," she said.

"What if you go and do it and it doesn't go ideally or perfect and you don't set the world on fire? Then all of a sudden all you did was just open yourself up to criticism.

"So I would think about it and I would check the schedule, and we'll cross that bridge if it ever comes."

The 26-year-old American emphasised that so far she had not been contacted by USF1.

"I haven't heard anything," she said. "All I've heard is what all of you have and read what you have so there's been nothing more on that."

During the USF1 press conference earlier this week, team co-founder Peter Windsor confirmed their interest in Patrick.

"She's definitely on the list - all American drivers that have got the credentials, and she certainly has, are," he said.

"To me she's definitely got road dust on her and she's a person that we should be looking at, but we're looking at everybody."

Patrick's contract with Andretti Green Racing ends this season, but she has not yet given any indication as to whether she will remain in the IndyCar Series or look elsewhere. She had previously been linked with a switch to NASCAR before securing her AGR deal for 2007.

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Permalink Reply by Damon on March 1, 2009 at 3:01pm

I don't know what it is, but the phrase "road dust" gets a chuckle out of me.

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Permalink Reply by Damon on March 14, 2013 at 2:45pm

Because I don't want to threadjack the Bristol 2013 thread with the F1/Bernie/Danica stuff, here's a trip down memory lane with some articles from the past regarding Danica and F1:

2000 (Young Danica): http://www.atlasf1.com/2000/aus/okeefe.html

2008 (F1 Honda test): http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&...

2009 (USF1): http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/feb/18/motor-sport-formula-one...

2009 (Richard Branson/Virgin Racing): http://www.espn.co.uk/espn/sport/story/649.html

2010 (Bernie/Danica): http://www.crash.net/f1/news/162382/1/ecclestone_keen_to_see_perfec...