from crash.net López: I 'put too much trust' in USF1 claims Thu, 18 Mar 12:40:13 2010 Buzz Up! José María López has admitted that in hindsight he ‘put too much trust’ in the ultimately hollow claims of USF1 co-founders Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson upon signing to race for the shambolic American effort in F1 2010 – and has hit out at the two team leaders for having ‘hid things from us’. López was officially announced as having signed to compete for USF1 back in late January for what was due to be the North Carolina-based concern’s maiden campaign of competition in the top flight – thereby bringing an end to the deafening silence over the squad’s likely driver line-up for 2010, or half of it at least. However, as the days and weeks went on, it became increasingly apparent that – regardless of the $8 million in backing the Argentine was reputedly bringing to the table – USF1 was not going to make it, having grossly underestimated the cost of competition at the highest level and been unable to secure adequate sponsorship. Requests firstly to skip the opening four ‘flyaway’ grands prix in order to have sufficient time to get the cars ready, and subsequently to defer its spot altogether until 2011 were both refused by governing body the FIA, and the team billed as the first American entry in F1 in more than two decades will not be on the starting grid in 2010 – and indeed, likely, not ever. The failure to make the grade left former Renault F1 test driver López high-and-dry – and now the 26-year-old has hit out at USF1’s key players for having in the end spectacularly failed to fulfil its promises and shattered his dream, after months of public denials that there was any crisis or possibility of not making it. “I find it hard to say that we did it wrong,” he is quoted as having said by Sky Sports, palpably angry and arguing that he was misled. “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.” Having extracted himself from his contract with the stillborn USF1 operation, López went on to try desperately to secure an eleventh-hour deal with rival F1 2010 newcomer Hispania Racing (HRT), but the former Campos outfit instead elected to plump for fellow GP2 Series race-winner Karun Chandhok – leaving the only options remaining available to the reigning double Argentine Touring Car Champion now testing roles. “My idea is to go on, not lay my head down,” he underlined. “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. [Testing] would be the easiest thing because racing in F1 is almost impossible this year. At some point I will be making the decisions.” ______________________________________________________________________ Mods, please feel free to move this post/thread to the Rise and Fall of USF1 thread. I created this thread, but upon further reflection, it may indeed be more appropriate to house it within that thread... Thanks, Frank
My first two thoughts (in addition to all the abundant yet deserving USF1 criticisms) are: 1) It was late January when Lopez signed this deal. Obviously teams weren't beating down his door in a year that saw a lot of driver moves and, ultimately, four more net driver spots on the grid than 2009. Had this been legit, it would have been a tremendous coup for him at 26. Which brings me to... 2) What exactly did he see in January when he looked around the premises of USF1 that made him say "Finally, my time has arrived with a Formula 1 team!"? I know the USF1 debacle screwed a lot of people over who left jobs to go work for them. But in the case of Lopez, I can't help but feel it's a case of "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is." His email inbox is probably filling up with notices of Nigerian lottery winnings as we speak.
thank you. Lopez is doing the same thing as the Anderson crew -- trying to place all blame externally. Proper due diligence would have easily uncovered the unlikelihood of USF1 making it to the grid. It's not like they went into it a year ago, when all the numbers were virtual. They went into it late enough in the game that a proper determination could have been made.
It's not like he had some other opportunity that he missed because of USF1, anyway. He only got the USF1 ride (FWIW) because of the Reutemann connection.
Yeah besides the eight Mil what did he lose? I know it wasn't his dough but it would have followed him elsewhere.
I Respect most all F1 drivers as to their abilities. Even the pay-per-drives as in most beginning their hopeful career. Some have "IT" some dont. Some sign for the right team at the right time, most dont. Sometimes circumstances allow a breakthrough shining moment and those who make the big decisions happen to be looking. But IMO Lopez is not one of those talents. Just like the older team "test" driver for Minardi, just before they folded (forgot his name), who bought a fun drive because he could. I feel sorry for the guys with true talent that never had the car to prove it. There are scads of them.
So should I just search Peter Windsor on the forums to find out what the latest scoop is on him. Quite apparent they were avoiding the explanation as to why he was not with the Speed Channel gang.
Bob Varsha tried to defend them during the broadcast by stating that the economic climate among other issues prevented USF1 from making the grid and then went on to re-state that their failure merely showed the difficulty of creating a team from scratch and making the grid. Most of the forum here were not appeased by his defense. Since PW was a former colleague, the issue was avoided as much as possible during the weekend broadcasts. Frank
Regarding Windsor, it's been touched on but not proven that he pocketed the Argentine $ and split and he's a virtually wanted man there now. Is there really anything to this or just Argentine posturing? RAM
This was interesting, but probably not worth its own thread: There is that old saying that "There's no such thing as bad publicity." >8^) ER
Apparently Lopez hasn't been following F1 for very long. This was by far not the first time a team signed up and did not make it. Back in the Nineties team Lola (?) should have been there at the season opening race in Interlagos, yet they weren't: They lost their key sponsor Mastercard and that was that. As a consequence Bernie demanded 50 million US in a bank account as a virtual guarantee for any newbie teams. That's what prevented further such shananigans. Until Mad Max lifted that restriction and invited the yahoos of BSF1 and others in to defeat the FOTA split. PS: I feel no sympathy for Lopez. He never belonged into F1 in the first place.
