FIA President Jean Todt has confirmed that he will investigate US F1’s failure to appear at the start of the World Championship.
The process could lead to disciplinary action taken against the team, although it’s unclear what form that could take, as clearly there would be little point in imposing a fine. The case could be the first in which the roles of prosecution and judgement are separate by the FIA.
Todt had an inside line to what was going on in Charlotte because Nick Craw of ACCUS – a close associate and President of the FIA Senate – was a big supporter of the team.
“The non-appearance of US F1 is definitely a disappointment,” said Todt. “And my colleague Nick Craw will not contradict me because he has been very close to this team. We were hoping that an American based team would be at the start. It wasn’t possible. Yesterday the World Council I asked to review the situation, and that’s part of the introduction of the new disciplinary panel, which was yesterday voted at the World Council.
“So I will report to the World Council and Graham Stoker as the President of Sport will pass the report to the competent people, and we will see what happens. When I say that it’s very disappointing I know that they have tried hard, made a lot of effort. As you all know Charlie Whiting went there and saw some facilities, and saw some cars under construction. Unfortunately it was not enough to have two cars at the start of the first Grand Prix.”
Adam Cooper F1 
So there were cars?…
Can we get Peter Windsor to tell us the truth and nothing but the truth?
After we have seen the newbies on track, as well as the ones that didn’t, I wonder if it has occurred to them that to come into F1 and build up a team, factory, car from scratch, with so limited testing, and to be even remotely competitive is basically an impossible task. It would be like if NASA attempted to build a space shuttle without going thru the earlier Mercury, Gemini.. programs first. Maybe they should consider letting new teams purchase a customer chassis for the first two years to at least gain an understanding of the design as well as get competent with the operational aspects before they are allowed to build their own machines. I mean even if the newbies picked up a Force India from last year (and I guess mod it for the larger fuel tank….) it would probably still be faster than 12s off the pace…
Please, Peter come out of hiding…I think after all the BS he put out…he owes the public something. Peter the journalist would be outraged at Peter F1 boss…
I say move on and forget about US F1. We were all fed a bunch of media hype B.S from the owners so why would hearing fresh B.S be of any benefit to anyone? Their silence speaks volumes and for me that’s more than enough to justify moving on to another more worth while entrant.
I can’t understand why there’s so much preasure for an American based team to enter a sport that is currently all about European teams that has been that way, and worked that way, for a very long time.
Why the FIA didn’t give Stephan a shot is beyond understanding! So it’s fine to let HRT shack up with an untested car and wobble around the track 11.5 seconds off the pace, yet Stephan with a Toyota chassis and engine both based around proven race winning designs were not allowed anywhere near the championship. Crazy world!
It’s a big pity that none of the (existing) new teams has grabbed the toyota car. Especially USF1 should have the chance to do that since last Nov. I think it won’t be 10s off the pace at least…
An investigation? I’ll write it now for you.
USF1 didn’t have enough cash to last it until it found sponsors.
The end.