Bleacher Report - Articles by Craig Dalrymple

The FIA's Max Mosely Stepping Down

Craig Dalrymple — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:38:33 -0400

Formula1.Net is reporting that Max Mosely will be stepping down in October.

The full article can be found at http://www.forumula1.net/2009/f1/lead_articles/mosley-to-stand-down-as-fia-president.

The picture above is also from this article.

Super Aguri Racing: Will the Budget Cap Really Make a Difference?

Craig Dalrymple — Wed, 06 May 2009 10:16:53 -0400

Ok, go figure this one out: The economy is in the dumps; unemployment in many places (including my household) is on the increase; interest rates world wide are lower than they have ever been while the banks—those that survived anyway—are trying to get people and companies that don't have money to borrow money the banks don't have.

The list of potential competitors in motor sports premier series is increasing weekly...

Wait a second, what did I just say? Yeah, go ahead, re-read it, that's what I said. And no, I did NOT select the photo just to attract hits to the article. Super Aguri is the latest organization to propose a possible F1 entry.

If they pursue it, maybe they ought to change their name to Phoenix Racing. Or maybe change the logo to resemble a piranha eating a McLaren.

Former Super Aguri head honcho Aguri Suzuki was quoted in the Sankei Sports newspaper to be considering a return to Formula One with the announcement of the voluntary budget cap in 2010. This after his description of the sport as a "A club full of piranhas." Does this mean he is now ready to risk some of his fingers again?

Add to this the rumors of Prodrive, Lotus, and others dropping hints in recent weeks and one wonders if a 26 car grid is going to be large enough. Remember USGPE—formerly USF1—is planning on a 2010 entry as well. Are we living in a fantasy land, or do these guys really see an opportunity here?

So, I ask, are we really going to see more cars next year, or is this all just publicity being driven by a certain individual in the U.K. with a bad hair cut?

Huh? What's with the New Driver Numbers?

Craig Dalrymple — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:28:19 -0400

Ok, so the FIA released new official driver numbers today. Three of the four changes were expected, but I have a problem with the last one.

To sum it up for those cave dwellers that don't realize the FIRST RACE OF THE SEASON is just a few excruciating hours away, here are the changes:

Ferrari requested, and the FIA granted, a change to list Felipe Massa as #3 and Kimi Raikkonen as #4. This supports some of the scuttlebutt that Kimi's drive may be in danger if '09 ends up like '08.
STR Ferrari's Sebastian club has had its numbers flipped with Bourdais, now listed as #11 and Beumi #12. This reflects the Frenchman's "senior" status as a returning driver, with the team and the man from Switzerland as being the rookie. I hope nobody got used to the old numbers, as it's already confusing trying to refer to these two by first names.
The former Honda team, now reincarnated as Brawn GP, has been placed at the bottom of the list and given numbers 21 and 22, thus reflecting its status as "new constructors."
Brawn GP drivers Jensen Button and Rubens Barrichello have been assigned numbers #21 and #22 respectively.

Uh, wait a minute... What was that last one? Yeah, you read it right.

OK, I kinda understand this — it is supposedly a new team, and since they are a new team, I guess the numbers would be assigned in the way the drivers were "signed" to the new team, but come on — it's the SAME crew as last year! Which one scored more points last year? Refer to item one. Hmmmm. Glad to see the FIA is confused as much as ever.

Yeah, I know, they have rules. (Guidelines?)

That's okay, I am sure Rubens will rearrange the numbers for next year. I'm thinking maybe like #5 for him and a #6 for Jenson.

USF1 Update

Craig Dalrymple — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:50:51 -0500

A few more details are available on the USF1 Team.

On their official Web site, Peter Windsor's blog gives us the name of the sponsor and an idea of the next steps the venture will take.

Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, the San Francisco-based advertising outfit, is one of the private investors in the project. Peter also states that they exceeded their investment goals before the official announcement on Feb. 24.

The blog entry further states that the team expects to sign an engine-supplier deal in the next few months, but that deal will only start in the 2010 calendar year, thus 2010 will be the earliest that the car will launch for testing. As quoted from his Windsor's blog, "no testing in '09 and a conventional time frame in which to design and build the car."

It appears they already have an engineering staff in place working out of temporary digs in the Charlotte area. They plan to move into their new headquarters around mid-year.

One other interesting note is the statement he makes about the time spent between Feb. 4 and Feb. 21, with the focus on "discussions with potential drivers." It would appear that they are already well into this process.

USF1 Team Announced: Details Are Still Murky

Craig Dalrymple — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:12:38 -0500

After waiting for a week for the official press conference, we now know that USF1 is indeed a real outfit. Not much else, but at least we have that.

On the SPEEDTV press conference there were few solid details, but here is a summary of what meager information there was.

Ken Anderson is the team principal, and Peter Windsor the sporting director. It was pretty obvious that the "Front Office" guy will be Windsor just from the number of questions he answered and the number that Ken deferred to him.

The team, as stated earlier, will be based in Charlotte, NC, although no permanent facilities have been identified.

Peter is envisioning a "Skunk Works" type of operation consisting of highly qualified people with a racing background, as well as new entry level mechanics, designers, and aerodynamicists with a desire to be part of something special. Any way you read this, it means long hours. He figures the total team size to be around 100 people.

Plans are to use the Charlotte labor market as much as possible, which, like everywhere else, has a growing unemployment rate. Unlike most other places, this employment pool has close ties to the auto racing industry.

Ken and Peter will maintain majority ownership in the operation. They have set the venture up so that outside ownership is restricted to a "very small" percentage of the total equity—the actual amount was not mentioned. While they have not named any specific sponsors, they feel that attracting sponsors in the US market should be reasonably easy, and plan to use this sponsor revenue to cover the operations of the team.

For some reason I just got this vision of a Formula 1 car with very little paint showing and having sponsorship logos embedded in the livery. Kind of a la NASCAR.

Logistics to and from venues do not appear to be a concern for the two. I have to agree with them there—with no race in North America, only one in South America, and the rest being nearly evenly split between Europe, the Pacific Rim, and the Mid-East, they are just about centrally located to everywhere else on the friggin' planet.

Driver candidates have not been identified, although some names were popping up throughout the press conference. Marco Andretti was probably mentioned more than any other, while there were several mentions of Scott Speed. Danica Patrick was only mentioned once, as was Kyle Busch and Grahm Rahal.

Peter also stated that they were willing to work with any drivers that were interested in making the jump to F1, including any current NASCAR oval track drivers.

The team will be submitting an RFP (or whatever the racing world equivalent is) for engine proposals, and they are willing to entertain all realistic submissions. However, keeping in mind the American slant that they intend to run the team with, I would expect to see the FIA/FOM standardized Ford Cosworth as the front-runner.

Both Peter, and especially Ken, would like to emulate the type of fan interaction/accessibility that they have observed in NASCAR and would like to keep team and driver accessibility as informal and as fan friendly.

It is clear to me that even with the USF1 name and logo, Ken and Peter intend to run this as a privateer operation much like Williams, not a "nationally owned" team. They also made it clear that the organization's focus is on Formula 1 and not other side businesses. I am assuming this excludes the wind tunnel that Ken owns.

Early in the interview Peter mentioned that the other two methods of getting on the grid, "some rich trillionaire or a large car manufacturer," were exactly what he and Ken were trying to avoid. Their focus was on creating a team that they had tight control over, hence the tight limit on outside investment.

Bob Varsha brought up an interesting point about development and testing, to which, in my opinion, Peter gave an even more interesting answer. Bob stated that since they do not have a car yet and do not intend to get on the grid until 2010, the team is basically exempt from the development and testing bans placed on the other teams. Peter's reply was, "We will comply with the spirit of the regulations" in that area, saying, "We don't want to upset anyone."

I will try my best to track this development and will report any additional information as it becomes available. Let's keep our fingers crossed for two more cars on the grid next year!

USF1 Update

Craig Dalrymple — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 12:59:03 -0500

The USF1 Web site has been updated stating that the team will be formally announced at 12:00 Noon EST (GMT -5) on Feb. 24.

I know this isn't much more info than we had before, but at least its something.

I will try to keep everyone posted.

USF1 Soon To Be a Reality?

Craig Dalrymple — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:29:58 -0500

Peter Windsor has been heard stating that USF1 will announce its entrance into Formula One this month, possibly around the 24th on Speed TV. As quoted from planet-f1.com:

"Ken Anderson and I have been looking at the possibility of designing and building an F1 car in the USA for the past four years," Windsor told SpeedTV.

"So I guess the real surprise is that we were able to keep it quiet for so long.

"The news broke this week but the real announcement is going to be live on SPEED, potentially on February 24."

A check of the USF1 web site, usf1.com, shows that a countdown timer has recently been added.

If you're curious about the photo selection, apparently Ken Anderson has stated that if Danica Patrick is interested in driving in F1, they are interested in giving her a testing opportunity. If nothing else, it could bring more US money and interest to the sport.

However, it remains to be seen if this entry into F1, and the anticipated increased American audience, will bring a race back to the second largest automobile market on the planet.

Lets keep our fingers crossed, at least for an additional team on the grid if nothing else.