Comments on: Jose Maria Lopez: out of single-seaters for three years but set for USF1 drive

By: J.A. Summers

J.A. Summers — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:12:55 +0000

Well, that’s one of the upsides to Tony Teixeira possibly buying into Campos: seen as how he wants to “bring A1 into F1″, he would be mad to not give the A1 Champion a seat.

By: Elcho Tojara

Elcho Tojara — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:54:47 +0000

Hey Fer..are you JM Silva or fan of him?
Lopez beat anyone in Argentina since he came back and is clearly the fastest guy there. Having the chance to win 3 different titles at the last race of the same year…is something, no?

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 02:42:38 +0000

I wanted so badly for the team to sign Takuma Sato. He’s out there. He’s fast. He’s experienced. He’s desperate to drive F1. HE HAS PERSONAL SPONSORS WITH MONEY!

I just wanted to get that off my chest… Anyways…

I don’t think Lopez should be looked down upon because he’s a pay driver. Peter Windsor made a good point that technically Alonso is a pay driver because a large part of Ferrari’s decision was the new Spanish bank sponsor. But while his resume is acceptable and he has knowledge of European tracks, where’s the Grand Prix racing experience?

I hope the second driver isn’t this British rookie I’ve been hearing about. I certainly hope it’s a veteran driver like, say…

Takuma Sato!!!

By: Tavoman27

Tavoman27 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:06:41 +0000

Jose Maria Lopez is a good driver, he has shown that he can drive fast, win races and win championships…Argentina is not Europe but excellent drivers come out with small budgets and accomplish big things but never reach the big circus because of the lack of funds. Now is different and for all of the F1 fans Lopes used to test the Renault for Fernando Alonso and in 90% of the races Alonso drove the car with Lopes set up…that is why USF1 is open to the option of Lopez driving besides the lack of US born drivers with real driving skills other than flat out racing with left turns only. The only thing Lopes needs to do is to learn to control his temper to avoid crashes other than that he can drive as fast as any F1 driver today, if any doubts still there ask Robert Kubica, Alonso or any other competitor that Lopez had run with or against and they will agree that he is up to it. Good luck to both Lopes and USF1

By: Pride

Pride — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:53:03 +0000

I would place experience and a young talent. In this case I would place Bourdais which represents american open wheel and a either Graham Rahal, Hildebrand, Edwards.

By: zerogee

zerogee — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:04:09 +0000

Ha-hem. I feel a rant coming on.

USF1 was founded by at least one shameless opportunist and that opportunist is Windsor. He has an excellent reality distortion field and a lot of people are being sucked into it. Just look at the way he has adopted an American management pattern of speech – he’s an Australian, just like me. Ding ding ding. Can anyone see the deliberate mistake here? Ever since he announced it, my Aussie-talking-rubbish-meter has been off the scale.

There are too many compromises suddenly surfacing in his story and in the USF1 story and signing Lopez is just painful. I don’t have an issue with pay drivers (although I think mentioning the Senna/Schumacher pay drives is a little disingenuous – they’re hardly in Lavaggi’s and co.’s league as they both had real success behind them) but I draw the line at touring car stars.

Lopez would complete seventeen laps of any given track before we got out of the pits, I’m sure, but he doesn’t strike me as F1 talent and if he has so much money and talent, why is he faffing about running around in Honda Civics? At least an international category would be believable.

USF1 stinks and it’s a crime that Windsor and co. are probably going to make a massive mess of this and completely nail F1’s US coffin shut.

I would love to be proven wrong and will run Silverstone naked if you lot will fund my ticket there. Okay, mostly naked. Okay, I’m really unfit, so if I ran it at all, it would be worth seeing my puke by Abbey…

By: Mike "the bike" Schumacher

Mike "the bike" Schumacher — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:45:28 +0000

Don’t mean to be slamming american drivers, just saying that the last few to come from america haven’t been great such as scott speed. Why can’t they compete in GP2 like everyone else who wants to make it to F1, then they could show how they relate to everyone else, making it easier to judge their talent. Maybe GP2 needs to be more global.

By: F1inSTL

F1inSTL — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:25:01 +0000

It’s all about the cash. They need a guy that can help them build and tweak their car and Lopez brings along some sponsors. What’s the problem??? They aren’t expected to be a contender anytime soon and you have to start somewhere.
Plain and simple…everyone except Button lost this season. Sure – I’d love to see them bring in Schumi but we need to be realistic. And let’s not dump on the team for being interested Lopez – let’s give him a shot. I trust that the guys in charge are doing their best and I do think that someday the team will consist of 2 American drivers. I love the debate but let’s take a deep breath and relax.

By: Darío

Darío — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:53:06 +0000

Sshhhhhhh

By: Fer no.65

Fer no.65 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:08:44 +0000

good point actually…

But both Paul and Gary has been a bit more impressive than Lopez, plus better sponsors and more money…

By: Xanathos

Xanathos — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:49:29 +0000

I’m just trying to imagine how many people on this site would have been happy and said things like “finally” and “totally deserving” if Paul Di Resta or Gary Paffett would have gotten the seat at USF1, two drivers who have been out of single seaters even longer than Lopez and are fooling around in a national touring car championship (like Lopez)…

By: F1Yankee

F1Yankee — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:41:12 +0000

yeah, you’re the champ alright.

By: GeeMac

GeeMac — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:50:05 +0000

Wow, I really didn’t see that one coming!

USF1 were just starting to look like a serious F1 team with serious aspirations. I had assumed, as most people had, that USF1 would sign a talented young American driver, and an EXPERIENCED european F1 driver, not someone with very little experience who frankly doesn’t deserve the seat.

I guess its going to be good “Go team USA” marketing if JML doesn’t perform as well as his American team mate (We sure did show those pesky euros how to drive in their own back yard etc. etc. etc.).

By: Gman

Gman — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:27:10 +0000

Well, this was not the signing I was expecting for USF1, but it is interesting in any event.

Perhaps Windsor/Anderson have found a diamond in the rough- heck, if the guys dose well for them and gose on to another F1 team, I can’t think of any better PR for the outfit. But I can’t help be a bit skeptical about his experience- heck, Pantano would have been a much better option in my book. Three seasons is a long time to be out of a car, esp. with the change in designs and specs that have taken place since then.

For me, the time when USF1 will be a credible operation or not is when we hear if they have a driver development scheme set up to nurture some combination of Alex Rossi, Jon Summerton, John Edwards, Jake Rosenzweig, JR Hildebrand, and whoever else is a promising young driver over here. If there is some support for those guys to run in GP2 or F3 (Rossi has done some GP2 Asia races with impressive results this year) then it will be a real step for the future.

By: C4

C4 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:19:32 +0000

Personally I’d like to see a Trulli or Heidfeld at USF1, but I doubt it really matters because their car will have to work its way up to speed just like the other new teams, so whoever is driving will be at the back of the pack or maybe slightly better. As long as this guy doesn’t wreck half the cars then I think he’ll be okay for the first year.

By: The Captain

The Captain — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:16:08 +0000

Peter recently said in an interview that since their preferred option of an american drivers was out, they where looking for at least one driver that had a good bit of open wheel experience, but wasn’t “set” in how a team should operate or they should be handled. someone experienced, but not set in their ways. I think this may be a fit for that. Let’s wee who the other drive is.

I also think that since USF1 is contracting out so much of their manufacturing (an advantage to being in Charlotte sine none of you vendors have other F1 clients so you can do that) they are getting a bad rap for not being up to speed as compared to the other new teams.

By: Jay Menon

Jay Menon — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:39:28 +0000

Yeah, Senna has very strong backing from Embratel, which is subsidiary of Telmex, which is owned by none other than Carlos Slim, one of the richest men in the world. He was previously linked to buying out Honda last year.

As one of the biggest telecoms companies in the world, it will be in Telmex’s best interest to market their brand. Especially with their strong presence in Central and South America, who else better than a Senna to use as your poster boy?

The only difference here is that, Senna has talent, this Jose Maria Lopez fella hasn’t driven a single seater in three years!!! He’s getting an F1 drive? Hey, Nigel Mansell might be interested in an F1 return, I guess if he can cough up enough money…he may be in the second USF1 seat!

By: GeorgeK

GeorgeK — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:32:03 +0000

USF1 could hire Schumy himself and it wouldn’t matter. After all, it’s about the quality of the car and the experience of the team. And the biggest unknown of all is Cosworth’s engine.

How well will USF1 compete against the other new teams is the real question. Someone will come home last and it could be any of the newbies.

The second driver needs to be a racer who competed in F1 last year, even if they have to pay him. Hell, I’d even accept Jarno Trulli if they could capture him on the cheap.

By: Prisoner Monkeys

Prisoner Monkeys — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:16:03 +0000

Like I said: it’s unlikely. Porero de los Funes is in need of some upgrades to qualify for Category-1 status, but the bigger problem is that the circuit is in a region controlled by the national opposition. The government in Buenos Aries is unlikely to provide support for the event in that region; the only way it will happen is if they win that seat in an election, or if Lopez’s presence can prmpt private groups into hosting an event (but the government has made it clear they’ll support a race, so it’s likely a privately-backed effort would be in a region whose seat is held by the incumbent party).

By: wasiF1

wasiF1 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:10:54 +0000

He have a lot of experience in single seater so he deserve the seat,& I agree it may put Potrero de los Fune on the calender.