New U.S. F1 team hoping to decide drivers soon
"We've got a shortlist of drivers and we've already had the first of our week of evaluation of young Americans," he told BBC radio. "There are some very good young Americans out there, and we will be making a decision about that pretty soon. "Before we did anything, we needed to get official entry from the FIA. We now have that and from now on it will be guns blazing." Team U.S. F1 were one of three newcomers named by the International Automobile Federation in a controversial 2010 entry list and will be the only ones not based in Europe. Windsor described Friday's formal announcement, the reward for years of preparatory work by him and partner Ken Anderson, as "a humbling moment." "Our ambition is to first of all prove that we can design and build a car in the United States as distinct from Europe, which is the normal place to design and build cars, and be competing as an American team," he said. The other aim, he added, was "for the team to be around for a long time." Windsor is a journalist and former Williams team manager while Anderson has previous experience as an engineer in both F1 and Indycar. They unveiled their project in February with the all-American team to be based in Charlotte, North Carolina - the heart of NASCAR country. AMERICAN DRIVERS There are currently no American drivers in the sport and no North American races either, with Canada removed from this year's calendar after the departure of Indianapolis. Drivers previously mentioned include second generation racers Graham Rahal, Conor Daly and Marco Andretti as well as NASCAR's Kyle Busch, former F1 racer Scott Speed and AJ Allmendinger. The team has entered under regulations that offer an optional 40 million pound ($66.02 million) budget cap in exchange for greater technical freedom. However eight of the existing 10 teams, including champions Ferrari, have refused to accept that and have threatened to leave unless the rules are rewritten. "We were planning this team three or four years ago, long before budget caps and the recession and all this stuff was even thought about," said Windsor. "We are just coming in to take our place, if you like, in the sport and where it falls is where it will go. But obviously we hope like everybody else that it will be one championship and we will be competing in that. "We'll be racing next year, we've just got to get on," he added. "We've got a massive project and a massive job ahead of us and that's the challenge we face." |
The new U.S.-based Formula One team due to debut next year is already assessing American drivers and will decide on them soon, co-founder Peter Windsor said on Friday.