Where there's a will...

The principals at USF1 say the reason they cannot run, as promised, American drivers in their Formula 1 debut is because delays in the Concord Agreement left them with no time and that in any case, there are no American drivers who would qualify for a F1 Super license.

Remembering how Kimi Raikkonen came to Formula 1 after what, 10 car races all together?, I looked up the requirements set forth by the FIA:

Qualification and conditions of issue for the Super Licence

5.1 The driver must be the holder of a current FIA International Grade A licence.
5.1.1 The driver must also satisfy at least one of the following requirements: have made at least 5 starts in races counting for the FIA Formula One World Championship for Drivers the previous year, or at least 15 starts within the previous 3 years.
5.1.2 a)have previously held the Super Licence and have been the regular test driver with an F1 World Championship team for the previous year.
b) been classified, within the previous 2 years, in the first 3 of the final classification of the F2 Championship, or of the final classification of the GP2 Series, or c)of the final classification of the GP2 Asia Series or of the final classification of the Japanese F/Nippon Championship,

d) been classified in the first 3 of the final classification of the Indy Racing League (IRL) series or of the Champ Car World Series within the previous 2 years; been classified in the first 4 of the final classification of the Indycar IRL series the previous year.*
* From 1.1.2010: been classified in the first 4 of the final classification of the Indycar IRL series within the previous 2 years.
e) be the current champion of one of the following: Formula 3 Euro Series The principal national F3 championships of: Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Spain World Series F/Renault V6
N.B.: the title of Champion is considered valid for 12 months from the last race of the relevant series or championship season.

f) be judged by the FIA to have consistently demonstrated outstanding ability in single-seater formula cars, but with no opportunity to qualify under any of c) to e) above.

In this case the F1 team concerned must show that the applicant has driven at least 300 km in a current Formula One car consistently at racing speeds, over a maximum period of 2 days, completed not more than 90 days prior to the application and certified by the ASN of the country in which the test took place.
By exception, if supported by the Safety Commission, the FIA World Motor Sport Council may approve the issue of the Super Licence to persons judged by the Council to have met the intent of the qualification process.

In other words, there are set paths but also a lot of wiggle room especially now that the role of test drives is so reduced. Historically it seems to me to be a "where there's a will there's a way" process. So what happened to USF1's will?

USF1 (or USGP) have shown pictures of fancy equipment and hosted FIA representatives recently (you have seen the press release on every F1 web site this week) yet they still have no working web site and have not announced an engine supplier or even a european base of operations. That explains why there will be no American drivers, if USF1 is going after, say, Toyota engines, they will probably have to run a Nakajima...

So perhaps the will is there but not as much of the way as we are led to believe yet?






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