Why did usf1 fail

Then there are arguments that the wrong teams were selected by the FIA in the first place — USF1 in place of Prodrive, for example — rather than persuading manufacturers to remain in F1, but back then the soft option was to attract submissives. When Manor disappeared, all the newcomers were gone Finally, the selection process yielded quantity and not quality: The Bahrain grid was the largest in F1 since , but arguably the lowest in quality since the sixties.

Tellingly, since the budget cap Haas F1 entered under stringent process and a business model not unlike that devised by Prodrive. Vet applicants carefully to ensure they have the wherewithal to survive beyond three seasons, and ensure that the revenue structure provides at least a realistic chance of survival. In the newbies were granted around nine months to go from zero to grid, and clearly that was insufficient. By contrast, Haas had two years — the lesson is that the new team selection needs to get underway soonest if there are to be new teams on the grid in But, of course, the major teams are pushing back against newcomers — history may inform, but it seldom changes.

Equally prospective team owners — and there are said to be as many as five out there, including Adrian Campos — should prepare for revised regulations and circumstances that could wreck their plans at a stroke, so must ensure that their business models and contingency plans are sufficiently robust to cope with the ebb and flow of F1.

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here. Tango tango 22nd January , Patrick paeschli 24th January , StefMeister stefmeister 22nd January , Again as was done in the past. James knewman 22nd January , Was wondering about this as I read the article.

Sometimes feels like we have rules just for the sake of having rules…. When you look at the experience the sport had with some — in fact, quite a lot — of those teams from the early s, it is perhaps unsurprising that they toughened up the entry rules after that. For example, you had the Villeneuve-Durango bid that tried to enter F1 in , but given that Durango, when competing in GP2, had a car expelled from a race by the stewards after they found that Durango had botched repairs to the rear load bearing structures which caused the rear wing to collapse on one car , resulting in a car that was a death trap, and then in reportedly had a car seized by Dallara because Durango had carried out so many botched repairs it was now unsafe to use.

Would it really be a good idea to let a team like that enter a car into a Formula 1 race? And not just in F1 either. Magnus Rubensson 23rd January , Brand new teams pootling around at the back miles off the pace does no one any favours.

Krommenaas krommenaas 24th January , The point is that anyone who produces a car that meets regulations should be allowed to participate, if only in pre-qualifying. PhilRenwick philrenwick 22nd January , I think Chandhock, B. Senna, Ericsson, Werhlein and Ricciardo all debuted with one of these three teams, and I did enjoy the battles they had not to be last! Jere jerejj 22nd January , GeeMac geemac 22nd January , They were enticed in by a Formula that changed before they even got off the ground — the new teams were doomed before the season even started unfortunately.

In addition, the smaller teams are great proving grounds for drivers, engineers and mechanics…these opportunities are lost to a generation of young talent now. HRT let Ricciardo get used to the F1 circus in relative anonymity. Phylyp phylyp 22nd January , Pironi the Provocateur pironitheprovocateur 22nd January , Few fews later the HRT just went bankrupt.

Unfortunately, I think we are all dreaming about something that never happened. Of course there should be races with 26 cars, or even Backmarkers are vital and a grid of 20 is too short. Most of those teams were too amateurish.

And happened under specific economic circunstances. Fer no. Dieter Rencken dieterrencken 22nd January , AlexS 25th January , Points he committed suicide, maybe just not the most orthodox way to do that. To gain an idea how far off the mark 40m was, consider that in Williams with the same Renault engine was consistently 2 secs per lap faster than Caterham.

The way I see it those three new teams could not survive in f1 in any kind of universe. The budget gap proposal was a lot more broken and plain odd than just having the low 40mil per year budget gap. There were talks about two sets of regulations. More freedom to these budget gap teams. It just would not could not work. The key issue for modern f1 is the multiple levels of competitive tiers.

All the other problems are not important but the mercedes domination with occasional ferrari and rbr wins is the only realy massive issue. We already have F1 and F1. And williams. Also, the team's driver s could have completed sufficient laps to earn that license.

The signing of Jose Maria Lopez brought a few snickers from the media. Lopez had been racing in Argentina for the last couple of years at Touring Car Level after being released from the Renault Drivers Development scheme in Lopez is not necessarily a bad driver, but with USF1 even at the time of Lopez's appointment looking shaky in terms of making the grid in Bahrain, perhaps the team should have appointed an older wiser driver. It would have given the team some credibility with the media and fans.

With drivers like Jacques Villeneuve, Giancarlo Fisichella, and Christian Klien all on the market, the team perhaps should have taken a risk and gone out for one of them. Having someone of that caliber would have been good for the development of the car, which is so important for a new and small team.

But it would have also made things easier in attracting sponsors to invest in the team. With a credible driver leading the team, it would have attracted more national and local media exposure. Villeneuve would have been the team's dream driver, and with his popularity in the States, Europe, and in F1, he would have brought immediate income to the team. Also, with an established driver on board, it would have made it easier to sign a second driver for the team.

Of course, the team never had the money to sign an established driver and it had to go for the "pay driver" in Lopez, who was backed by the Argentinian government and other minor sponsors.

Had the team planned the project better, it would never have gone for someone of Lopez's quality and would have ensured that their driver choice would have been focused more on quality than "money" quantity. That's not to say the team didn't try that, though. The team also promised that its car was going to be designed and built with innovation in mind and that it would be different than the other teams'.

Formula One is a sport that showcases itself as the most technically advanced sport in the world. In terms of the sport, it is always interesting to see different ways of building a team car, and not only potentially be interesting for the sport, but for the automobile industry which has strong relationships within the sport.

Windsor promised that the team would look to have a great relationship with the fans and as well as the team having a Web site, they have also stepped into social media like Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Videos of the development of the car and interviews were put on YouTube whilst photos and short messages were put on Facebook and Twitter to help gather the team some support. Even with that, very little has been heard on those networks in the last couple of weeks when it looks from the outside that the team does not care about the supporters, who are losing interest in the team.

In the three previous campaigns, meanwhile, Maki Engineering from Japan had entered eight grands prix - but started none of them. The hapless French AGS effort spent much of the late s and early s failing even to pre-qualify, in company with Italo-Swiss counterpart EuroBrun and the truly dreadful Life outfit, which didn't make it through to a single qualifying session during its sole campaign of competition in Life, indeed, was practically world championship-winning material when compared to FIRST Racing that had gone the season before, with the International F graduate lodging its entry to move up to F1 but - much like USF1 - never actually racing after its Judd V8-powered chassis was deemed too poorly-conceived and unsafe to drive, with designer Richard Divila caustically describing it as good enough only to act as 'an interesting flowerpot'.

After failing a mandatory FIA crash test, the initiative was canned and the team went under - but, incredibly, the unloved stillborn chassis lived to fight another, regurgitated day.

As the Life L Fondmetal was another prolific pre-qualifying victim in and , though happily, Gabriele Tarquini this time made the grade on all-but one occasion - unlike in his luckless AGS days - even if the Italian only saw three chequered flags from 15 starts. The abject BMS Scuderia Italia effort of can in large part be blamed for having destroyed the career of the then highly-regarded reigning International F Champion Luca Badoer before it had even really begun - but even that was a success when compared to the MasterCard Lola embarrassment of four years later, when neither Vincenzo Sospiri nor Ricardo Rosset came even close to qualifying for the curtain-raising Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

The team collapsed on the eve of the second race in Brazil citing 'financial and technical problems', and shortly afterwards Lola went into receivership. Hence, when it was rumoured earlier this week that MasterCard was evaluating a further foray into F1, it raised more than a few eyebrows [see separate story - click here ] Still, MasterCard Lola will always have one source of comfort.