multi21

López close to USF1 deal
21 November 2009


José María López has said that he came to an agreement with USF1 on Friday and that, once the necessary sponsorship budget is in place, he will be racing for the team in 2010. Having visited the outfit's Charlotte facility, the Argentine must now find a number of sponsors for the new team.






López is a former GP2 and Renault F1 test driver. According to USF1's Peter Windsor, Sporting Director for the team, his FIA Superlicense shouldn't be an issue. "I don't think his license will be a problem with the many miles he has covered as Renault test driver," Windsor explained.

"We would like to sign a contract as soon as possible. It is important for both team and driver to sign a driver as early as possible but, as long as we have not signed a deal, it would be inappropriate to say more."

Flying Finn

Great move... Not.

It's obvious, they'll take anyone with a ton of money.

What has Lopez been racing lately? Since he raced in GP to in 2006, yes, in 2006! He was in ALMS at some point, right? No he's been racing in Argentina's TC2000 GT car series...

Other likely drives could be Villeneuve, this USF1 teams looks really promising...

Seriously, WTF?

ltc

And who can get an FIA Super license.

Kind of shocking that they are just now admitting that the FIA Super license may be an issue for any American driver.
I've sort of lost any enthusiasm for USF1, as much as I like Windsor.

Wonder who is going to replace him on the grid for next year's F1 broadcasts...

the flyin' scotsman

Hopefully its someone from the old ITV crew...............the BBC effort that was broadcast in Canada was pathetic.

The new team will need an experience #1................JV is getting a little old but could fill the gap short term; a year or 2.

Ritter v4.0

Budget team + budget drover = also rans

rickmdz

The driver's manager said that during their visit to the team facility in Charlotte, they were able to see the car in the wind tunnel !!?? I wonder if that is true or there's something lost in translation. As far as I know they were still in the planning and developing process. Truth is nobody really knows whats going on inside USF1. The press in argentina says It's a done deal, I wouldn't be too sure until they sign the contracts with the driver and sponsors.

BlueRiver86

FWIW I remember him being quite good when he was with DAMS. Several podiums if memory serves.

Henry964

As an argentinian I follow closely Lopez career, Lopez as a racer is in a totally different level than the other argentine racing drivers, he currently leads the 3 different championship that he is competing in: TC2000, TC and TopRace, with 3 different cars and teams, and the local joke is that all other racing drivers here are paying the bill for him to go race elsewhere....

Also he was champion in Europe in Italian formula Renault, European Renault V6 formula and had several podiums, pole positions and best laps when he was racing in F-3000 and GP2.

He may be paying US-F1 for his seat but he is not a slow amateur, he is a fast and talented racer

ltc

There are lots of "fast and talented racers" in the world today, sadly the ones who make it to F1 usually have $$.

rickmdz

I think that for professional drivers that's almost always the case. Even Alonso needed huge backup from Santander bank to materialize his dream of driving for the Scuderia. You don't drive a f1 car if you don't have big money sponsors. Some are talented and sponsors line up to support them and eventually profit from their success, others like you said, only have the money through connections or whatever and they flunk like many good examples throughout the years...

Regarding Lopez, I watched an interview where he was remembering his career. He began racing karts when he was 8 and since then all he had in his mind was racing in F1, you have to admire such a passion and determination to get at this point. I heard good things from other professional drivers when commenting on him. They guy has talent, that's my very humble opinion, now he needs a decent car, and that is a big ? in regards to USF1 where everything is in paper (or bytes) still, don't know how far from reality

ltc

You just described almost every kid I ever met (at the national level) who was serious about karting...sadly he is the exception rather than the rule....but that is the nature of the game. It is difficult to listen to them talk about their their detailed plans and in the back of your head realize they don't have a chance. You still have to admire the skill and work they do put into it however, hopefully it pays off later on in life.

It just seemed 'odd' to me that given the % of a team's budget that comes from a driver (usually a small %) that a team wouldn't put the best driver in their best car and let success bring in sponsors.

Yes, I know, the days of a team "taking a flyer" on a kid are long gone.

rickmdz

Totally agree with you. I brought that up to make the point that he's not just a guy with money and no talent, I think quite the opposite. Of course, he has been very fortunate in his career. Even more so coming from a country like Argentina where is very difficult to get money from sponsoring companies.
In the other hand if here in US road racing would get a fraction of NASCAR budget, then the pool of talented drivers would be much different, starting from Kart racing all the way to higher categories.