A report in renowned nonsense-talking rag Auto Motor und Sport has claimed that the chances of the new USF1 team making the 2010 grid are "zero", as it was revealed that the Charlotte-based team had yet to start crash tests.
The news that the team was yet to start crash-testing components, reported in both Auto Motor und Sport and Blick, adds a new level of worry over the 2010 hopes of the Yankees. Earlier in the season, the FIA sent an investigator over to the team's Charlotte base in order to make sure they were on target to make the grid.
After expressing concerns during one visit, a second visit last month by FIA deputy president Nick Craw stated that: "It has all come together very quickly for the team."
Team owner Ross Brawn was shocked when told that the crash tests were not yet underway, saying that: "We [Brawn GP] have been crash testing for the new car for the past two months, to be ready for the official tests.
"A new team should be doing the same if it wants to be ready for the beginning of the season."
The USF1 effort has been dogged with rumours that things were not all that good behind the scenes, with whispers of the team employing it's staff on a month-by-month basis, and mutterings of a poor relationship between their team and their proposed engine supplier Cosworth.
The team had seemed to be going along well, with funding secured from YouTube founder Chad Hurley and a recent announcement revealing that the team would base themselves at the Spanish Motorland Aragon circuit for the European season, but these latest issues may well force the FIA to act again.
With Toyota and BMW withdrawing from F1 at the end of 2010, and the FIA making a great song and dance over recruiting the new teams for 2010, the failure of one or more of the newbies to make the Bahrain grid next year would be an embarrassment for the governing body.
Furthermore, reports from a recent FOTA meeting suggested that USF1 boss Peter Windsor chose to veto a proposal to see teams forbidden from selling their official entries to other companies or investors, suggesting that Windsor and the USF1 team may be planning to sell off their 2010 grid slot.
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