Alex Wurz no longer has faith in USF1
The FIA is still not convinced by the solidity of the USF1 project and has ordered further inspections of the team’s facilities in Charlotte. Tony Purnell and Nick Craw, responsible for these inspections, discovered that the team was employing its 60 employees on a monthly basis. The team has a budget of 48 million euros, […]
The FIA is still not convinced by the solidity of the USF1 project and has ordered further inspections of the team’s facilities in Charlotte. Tony Purnell and Nick Craw, responsible for these inspections, discovered that the team was employing its 60 employees on a monthly basis.
The team has a budget of 48 million euros, which is sufficient for the operation of an F1 team, as proven by Force India with its slightly higher budget. The difference for USF1 is that the team has so far attracted very few sponsors and does not have any investor groups or companies supporting it. The project is financially supported by the project’s initiators, Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson, joined by YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley. And these three men are far from having sufficient income, unlike Vijay Mallya, who owns several thriving businesses. Chad Hurley sold his shares of YouTube two years ago for the sum of 1.65 billion dollars (a little over one billion euros at present), with more than 345 million dollars going to Chad Hurley (about 232 million euros).
All these reasons seem to have dampened Alexander Wurz’s enthusiasm. *Auto Motor und Sport* reports that the Austrian driver has simply abandoned all negotiations with USF1 because he no longer has faith in the project. All this tends to confirm Bernie Ecclestone’s fears about the USF1 project, who stated that several of the new teams might not be present on the grid next year, particularly USF1.
However, it is normal that no driver wants to sign at the moment with a new entrant to the F1 championship. There is no way, except to wait, to be sure that these teams will complete their program and find the necessary budget to operate over multiple seasons. Pedro De La Rosa, strongly linked to Campos, explains: “As long as the sponsors are not gathered, I will wait. It’s the same for all the new teams. You can sign now, but if in January, you suddenly realize that the money isn’t there, you’re out on the street.”
On his side, Chad Hurley wants to be reassuring: “We will find the revenues to make it a big affair. The return on investment might not be so significant in the first few years, but I’m not involved for the short term. We are looking at a 20-year involvement, and I think we will make it a great brand during that time.”
