She won A race because she didn't run out of fuel if I remember correctly.... http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/racing/f1/news/story?id=3909107
There is no way Danica will race for USF1. Not because she wouldn't want to, but she is frankly not good enough.
It depends. If this team is around to make money through sponsorship and publicity, she looks like a viable candidate. However, if they want to win anything or be somewhat successful they need to look for better talent.
F1 is a part of the entertainment biz. The first goal of any F1 team is to exist, therefore to make money. I wish them the best.
I don't understand why a US team would have to have US drivers. Ferrari hasn't had an Italian driver in what... a dozen years? One of the secrets to their success is to get the best drivers and not worry about politics. A virgin team will need as much experience as it can get. It should engineer and build the car in the US but find the best drivers and mechanics in the world. When considering hiring "one of the best drivers in the world", that would preclude our US covergirl from being on the list. One of the most telling things is the statement that Tony George would be upset if she left the IRL. She's more important than the entire IRL. If it weren't a tragedy, it would be funny. Oh, anything that would upset Tony George is OK with me. (Tony-- I hope you're reading this). Personally, I think Danica should start doing porn instead of driving. She's probably better at it than driving, would get even more PR, and will have a longer lasting career if she lasts into MILF status. I can see her list of videos now "Starting Grind", "Pole Position", "Indian-a-pull-us 500", "Pit -don't -stop!" and the infamous "Splash and Dash".
"I don't know if it's something she wants to do. We'd certainly love to test her and go from there." It seems like they're just using her name to promote this USF1 concept. Maybe BE is behind this somewhat financially? Not sure how this will fly but if someone will bankroll it then they can certainly give it a try.
I've heard from a friend who is looking for a job with the team that they will almost certainly be based in England rather than in the US..
The whole idea sounds like an embarrasing cluster f*** anyway, why not let Danica drive. She'll at least bring a lot of money. Based in NC? You gotta be kidding me. I'd be surprised if this whole deal even happens.
Hypothetical: What would have happened if Danica had come along 20 years ago and made it into F1. While fighting for position, Nigel Mansell slams the door on Danica and forces her off the course and out of the race. Furious, Danica storms down the pit lane and confronts Nigel. Finish the story for me
You'd wake up from the dream you were having because Danica would never be anywhere near Nigel in a race.....
In 1989 F1 had almost 50 drivers jockeying for the grid positions. Danica would have been eliminated in Thursday morning's pre qualifying session.
http://www.usf1.com/ There is now a ticker counting down...perhaps we will get more info in a few days.
Motorola, her main contracted sponsor right now doesn't have the money to follow her to F1. Not sure how that breach of contract would work. Wouldn't suprise me in the least if BC and Mad Max Mosley were somewhere in the background of this team. They know they need to come back to the US to race, and need to build the fan base. A Team with 100 employees and a $64M budget will be at the back of the grid no matter how talented the drivers are. Scott Speed proved he didn't want to work hard enough to be in F1 - at least that is the perception. I wouldn't touch him. If it were me, I'd sign the kid that just won the Formula BMW championship. 2010 would probably be early for him to join F1, but the effort could be looked as developmental instead of "the best the US has to offer". Or the US should attack Germany, proclaim it a colony, and draft Vettel onto the team.
One of the biggest problems this USF1 team is going to have is quiet simple. Popularity of the sport will not go up in the USA unless we have some races in N. America! I believe this whole Danica thing is for promotion only. Its an easy way to get attention to the team. Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson are very smart guys. They know they have to find the best possible drivers they can get to fulfill the mission of USF1. If USF1 is going to only have American drivers, they need to rethink the concept. I forgot who said it but it is true. Look at Ferrari...Do they have only Italian drivers? No. First thing first. Bring F1 back to the U.S!
I raced with Alexander Rossi (Formula BMW Title). He will be fantastic. He will probably be doing Formula 2 after they see how his F1 test goes this coming Formula BMW World Finals.
Why would they base a team in the US? Seems like that would require an incredible amount of travel costs (as well as the impact of flying back-and-forth from all over).
They will also have a place in Baboa (or something like that), Spain for the european stretch of the season.
What the hell. I say go for it. It wouldn't hurt a team to have some female eye candy on it. Get one gr8 experienced F1 driver and another mid range who looks smokin hot. Enough of the metrosexual male European drivers already! I say a Hot Female F1 driver is totally American. Yeah, the European and South American drivers will have issues with her but thats life they will get over it or get fined out the wazoo for doing stupid shinanagins on the track. She does have more experience with slick tires.
