The FIA's technical delegate Charlie Whiting has conducted an official inspection of the USF1 team's facilities at their base in Charlotte, as the governing body attempt to ascertain whether the team can compete in the 2010 season.
Whiting's visit, reported yesterday, follows a series of negative publicity that had called the validity of the American operation into question.
Last weekend, the team co-founder Ken Anderson admitted that the team had asked the FIA for the right to miss the opening four races of the season, only joining in at the Spanish GP in early May, after dalays to the team's new 'Type 1' car and budget issues.
The team is yet to launch their 2010 car with the new season set to start in two weeks on Friday.
The Whiting visit was originally reported on Autosport.com, who suggested that he had been tasked with taking a "detailed look" at the American outfit, but neither USF1 nor the FIA would confirm the visit in the report.
The team suffered a fresh setback yesterday when the Locstein financial group pulled out of negotiations over a sponsorship deal for 2010. The company confirmed that the American team's inability to complete the full season had been a decisive factor.
"As a matter of course, Locstein evaluates a variety of business opportunities around the globe, including sponsorship in Formula One racing," a statement from the company read.
"Locstein did engage US F1 Team regarding sponsorship, but when it was apparent the team was not able to participate in the entire 2010 season, Locstein elected to withdraw from further involvement with US F1."
The news of Whiting's assessment comes with the FIA having a ready-made replacement for the USF1 team should they be unable to compete in the 2010 season, namely the Stefan GP outfit.
The Serbian team suffered a setback of their own yesterday, when team boss Zoran Stefanovic told the Balkan Insider that the team had also failed to secure a supply of GP2 tyres to test on, after missing out on F1-spec tyres from Bridgestone due to them not being on the official entry list.
"The [GP2] circuit is also under contract with the FIA, so we can't get their tyres either," Stefanovic mourned.
"We could get tyres from other manufacturers similar to those used in the Formula One circuit but these are not approved for Formula One and we're not going to take any chances because we could have an accident in testing."
Stefanovic remains confident that the FIA are close to making a decision on the 13th grid spot though, and remains confident that his team will be in Bahrain.
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