Bad to worse for crumbling USF1 team

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.

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