Formula One news

USF1 evaluating Danica Patrick

The new-for-2010 USF1 team is considering Danica Patrick as a possible driver for their first Grand Prix season next year. Patrick, who rose to stardom by winning Motegi's round of the IndyCar Series last year, has been in discussions with the team which has already admitted its intentions to run at least one American driver.

With the project having been in the pipeline for over four years, the Charlotte-based squad is making progress with its preparations for 2010, despite not yet knowing under which regulations it will compete. 'Budget cap or not', though, Ken Anderson's team will not be distracted from the job in hand.

Patrick is currently fifth in the IndyCar Series standings

"We're getting near to the point where we start looking at drivers and Danica is on our list for sure, because she's the best-placed American in the leading single-seater championship of the United States," USF1 sporting director, Peter Windsor, told GPWeek. "She's doing a really great job."

Patrick currently lies in the top five of the IndyCar Series, three places ahead of the second American. "There are some other great drivers out there," Windsor - who, until Silverstone, was the interviewer in F1 post-qualifying and race press conferences - continued. "Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Jonathan Summerton...the list goes on. There are some really good guys and we've got to start focusing on that."

How does the Cosworth-powered team view F1's current argument between the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) and governing body the FIA? "We are open to the political instability," Windsor added. "We're building various iterations of the car based around the ways we think the regulations could go."

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