Major split for USF1 from team founders possible

[John S]

In this long piece, from Autosport, big cracks look to be appearing between Ken & Peter on the one hand, and Chad Hurley & the workforce on the other. Unfortunately I think once recriminations like this are in the public domain it seems almost impossible that the genie can be put back into the bottle.

My own personal opinion is that Campos & USF1 will somehow become amalgamated, mainly because of committments to drivers with backers but also because of the Senna name, and Stefan GP will inherit the last grid slot.

One thing I can't fathom is why USF1 is short of cash if Hurley, a multi millionaire, is still commited to the progect?  Perhaps in the fullness of time we shall learn just what, or who, held up development in December & early Jan. 

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81664

 

[judy]

I don't think Bruno Senna deserves a race seat in F1. He obtained a distant second place in GP2 (he scored more than 10 points behind the champion Pantano in that season) and the only reason there were a lot of publicity about various teams showing interest in him in F1 is because of the name Senna. I doubt anyone will show any interest in him if he has a different surname. I will not be surprise if he end up just like Piquet Jr.

I followed the live timing of the 24 hrs Le Mans last year and he performed so badly throughout the race. Each time he took over the driver, the car dropped from about 13 ir 14 place to above P20. Then his teammates had a hard time to make up laces to about P13 or P14.

[Scott]

I agree that it is strange that if Hurley is the major backer for the team that they are short on resources...surely he knew that it wouldn't be in the black for at least a few years, and he would have to fund almost everything to get it up and going.  If he was pulling on the purse strings at such an early phase, he should be looking at billboard marketing, and not F1.  By the way, he is more than a billionaire ($1,600,000,000 US was what he got from Google for YouTube, and he still has a large chunk of YouTube equity).

[Jericoke]

People don't get rich by flushing money away.  No matter what Hurley is worth, he's not going to throw good money after bad... unless he sees F1 as a true calling (such as Williams or Brawn).

I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but the F1 that Campos and USGP signed up for isn't the same one they're competing in now.  I guess it was arrogant of them to assume they could double their budgets, but once the FIA has your deposit, what choice is left?

It is a shame that the people running USGP (and Campos) couldn't sort things out with time to spare.  It's always ugly when things become public; it only hurts everyone involved.

[Scott]

Maybe not, but if the source is correct, it sounds like they didn't have even a sub €40m budget if they couldn't get the first tub finished or properly staff their design department.  Also, don't forget that it was Windsor and Anderson that were beating their chests about doing F1 'right'.  They also were the ones who said they were going to run both a US Manufacturing base AND a European logistics base - all under the budget cap (something that amazed me when they announced it.

As for Mr Youtube, there is an old saying that if you want to make a small fortune in motor racing, start with a LARGE one.  And it applies to modern F1 more than ever.  If he was so naive as to think it would really be anything but a large marketing money-pit, then he didn't do much research.

[FW14B]

USF1 cannot have been helped by the fact one of their few confirmed sponsors, Locstein, has pulled the plug on their deal with the team.  It does almost seem like the best, and only option for both teams is to pull together both sets of assets into one team.  The rumours of this seem to be growing too, from what I can tell!