News about USF1's crumbling formula one team is heading from bad to worse.

It already emerged on Wednesday that, with the American team admitting it is not ready for Bahrain, its lead investor Chad Hurley and well-financed driver Jose Maria Lopez are in serious talks about switching to Campos.

Locstein Group AG, a Geneva based global financial services firm, has now confirmed it will not sponsor the Charlotte based outfit.

"Locstein did engage USF1 regarding sponsorship, but when it was apparent that the team was not able to participate in the entire 2010 season, Locstein elected to withdraw from further involvement with USF1," the company said in a statement.

Another definite departure from USF1 is Brian Bonner, formerly the head of business development.

"USF1 is breaking apart because (team principal) Ken (Anderson) is not able to manage such a project," an anonymous insider who works for the team said in an exclusive interview with Germany's motorsport-total.com.

The insider revealed that ten of USF1's staff have now left the team because they doubt they will be paid as scheduled on Friday, while about 60 remain.

"We hear that sponsor funds could emerge if Ken Anderson goes," he added, also revealing that sporting director Peter Windsor was "rarely at the factory" throughout its development.

Anderson responded by saying the insider's views are "one-sided", while Windsor declined to comment.



Source: GMM

 

this HAS to be the final nail in the coffin, what can you do after your biggest investor takes off?

 

Ken Anderson that fat a**. He makes me mad. He sounds like he is really dumb in interviews also.

 

I really feel bad for everyone that works for USF1 and was under the assumption they'd have a car ready for Bahrain when they signed on. Either way, nothing is finalized and nobody can say with absolute certainty that USF1 is dead in the water.

 

But this type of confusion only two weeks before the season starts is just terrible.

I'm embarassed for them.

 

Stick to racing around in circles.

 

Probably not a bad suggestion for the time being.

Sad but true.

 

They're dead - at least for 2010.

So embarrassed. I thought Windsor had a clue, this failure is proving that he is all talk. Did he realistically think he could assemble a team and build a brand new car in the off season!? I expected better from him.

 

This debacle raises the questions if the US can actually build and field a successful Formula1 team and also if F1 in the US is a viable option for Bernie if not.

This failure might resonate more with US based F1 lovers than a 'normal' fan.

 

Very sad, but true. Windsor and Anderson didn't exactly set a good example for what the US is capable of in F1. I'm just praying they can get funding and keep working to have a car on the grid in 2011.