Sponsorship Woes Threaten Future of U.S. Formula 1 Team

A bottle of Champagne sits in an otherwise empty trophy case that greets visitors in the lobby of the new USF1 headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. It is a gift for the team founders, Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor, to be opened March 14, when the first Formula One team based in the United States since the 1970s lines up on the starting grid in Bahrain for the opening race of the season.

But it may be awhile before that cork is popped, if at all.

USF1 is plagued by financial troubles, and even Bernie Ecclestone, the chief executive of Formula One Management, expressed skepticism about the team’s future.

“I don’t think we will see the Americans,” he told The Express, a British newspaper, this month.

Anderson and Windsor, who announced the formation of the team in February 2009, insist they will be at the Bahrain race.

“It’s always a struggle for new teams, any new business,” Anderson, an engineer who has worked in the IndyCar Series and Formula One in 30 years in motorsports, said in his office at USF1 headquarters in early February. “Yeah, a couple sponsors have let us down a little bit, but we’re on track.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/sports/autoracing/18autos.html