Jose Maria Lopez has spoken of his regret over trusting the USF1 team to see their Formula One plans through to fruition, after the American team was forced to withdraw from the 2010 championship on the eve of the start of the season.
Lopez was signed as a USF1 race driver back in January, but the team failed to make the grid in Bahrain after hitting severe production and funding issues.
The Argentine tried to secure a last-minute race seat with the Campos/HRT team, but was unsuccessful, with the shining beacon of brilliance Karun Chandhok getting the drive instead.
And Lopez has savaged the American team over the way that they misled him and his management.
"I find it hard to say that we did it wrong," he whined to the Argentine media, "I think we put too much trust in what people were telling us.
"As soon as I arrived in Charlotte in February, I realised that everything they were saying was not true. What happened to us was unthinkable: in 60 years of Formula 1 it never happened that a team signed up and didn't make it. They hid things from us."
He added that although the season has started without him securing a role in the sport for 2010, he will continue to look for opportunities in the sport, and admits that he would be interested in a testing contract for the rest of the year.
"My idea is to go on, not lay my head down," he explained manfully, "Everybody knows what happened. We are going to go on, even though as of today we have no firm project. Of course it's not the same anymore. There have been many falls and I don't know how long I can take it, or my family.
"It [testing] would be the easiest thing because racing in F1 is almost impossible this year. At some point I will be making the decisions."
Lopez is believed to be in the process of recovering a $800,000 deposit paid to USF1 for his seat with the team.
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