Bagging the team for not having anything material yet - a factory, engine, etc - is stupid. They're announcing their intentions. The point is to raise awareness so suppliers or potential partners are aware of them when they come knocking with a proposal. They also make good points about the cost of labour in the USA vs Europe as well as the transportation requirements in the current championship. The UK motorsport industry isn't as strong as it was. Plenty of suppliers are based in the USA.

davratta - get a clue. Aguri had Honda backing and existing cars to use. USF1 have to build a car, so no chance of being on the grid this year. This team is doomed to fail if they mandate american drivers. They should pick the best available. Going with 2 drivers with no F1 experience will kill their development. Worse still is if they fail miserably it could do more harm than good to F1 in the USA.

"If Nick Fry and Ross Brawn are hostile to the Virgin bid (and we have no idea if they are yet) then they should come out and say it." - why the hell would they do that? For all we know the person leaking this has a vested interest, doesn't gell with the existing management or has no clue as to the current discussions. I wouldn't be surprised if they work out a joint buy-out with Virgin. I'm not convinced Virgin would want to take on the risk associated with owning an F1 team. A commercial partnership may be a better option, possibly with a small ownership stake. "Honda Racing's problem over the last few years has been exacerbated by the lack of a title sponsor. Fry may not have had a free hand in running the company the way he wanted over the last few years because of Honda's interventions, but his team have failed to get a title sponsor on board. The same thing happened with Jaguar thinking that Ford would always shell out the money and they didn't need to find one either." - Huh? A strategic decision by Honda to promote their environmental credentials is the reason there was no major external sponsorship on the car. Such a sponsor would have diminished the marketing impact of the 'earth car'. the success of the marketing campaign is a different story... Similarly Ford wanted to promote Jaguar - it was Ford's decision to use the Jaguar brand to enter F1, not the Jaguar company entering in the hope their parent would finance them. "So when journalists get hold of Nick Fry over the coming days he needs to be asked directly if he thinks that Virgin would make a good team owner and, if he is contemplating a buyout, exactly where all the money is coming from." - I highly doubt he'd be able to tell us that due to Non-Disclosure Agreements with his backers (whoever they are). People don't disclose details of their bid just to keep the press happy.

It'll be cheaper to outsouce in America because there isn't the F1 expertise in the US. I agree though that the team's success isn't reliant on a north american race or lots of american's following the sport. They should be able to uniquely build a US-based portfolio of sponsors looking for exposure outside of north america.

So the gearbox internals are about the only carry over parts, yet at the first test the gearbox oil temperatures caused the test to be cut short... (http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,18954,3213_4908079,00.html). Not good enough. I just don't see Red Bull progressing beyond midfield again.

Ferrari continue to be a leader in cost cutting! What a joke. I haven't heard any useful ideas for cost cutting get publically suggested by Ferrari. They pay their drivers more than anyone. They refuse to dramatically cut back testing because it will reduce their advantage of having their own private test tracks. They reportedly put their team personnel up in the most expensive hotels (part of luring the best staff). The list goes on.

I'm Australian and have to put up with British commentators singing the praises of British drivers. But I don't blame them - if your country is getting the British commentary feed maybe you should complain that your local broadcaster can't provide their own commentators. Alternatively, if you're like me you may have to admit that as painful as hearing the Brits carry on, you don't think your local broadcaster couldn't possibly provide a better option to Martin Brundle and whoever is sitting next to him.

Firstly the article doesn't tell us when the slowest will be knocked out - is it after each lap, is it after x minutes? F1 has so many things it could improve, yet they want to tinker with the one thing they've got right in the last few years. Unbelievable. If one thing about quali needs changing it is that those in Q3 are timed with race-levels of fuel. Let's go back to near-empty tanks for the whole of qualifying!

I am so sick of reading that Kimi's crash into the back of Sutil deserved the same penalty as Lewis's crash into the back of Kimi. They are completely different incidents. Kimi his Sutil on track in racing conditions after a mistake that anyone can make. Sutil was just unfortunate, which was made worse because of his unexpectedly high race position. Lewis hit Kimi in controlled conditions in the pit lane, where safety is paramount, and was made worse by the fact he also failed to stop for a red light.

More rubbish from Andrew Davies. Kubica is fully entitled to lap the circuit at the potential of his car at the time. It is ridiculous to suggest he should alter his race because of the circumstances of the drivers around him, let alone get hauled before the stewards. Also, I notice you didn't compare the Brazilian crowd to how you might expect a British crowd would react if Massa were claiming the crown over Hamilton at the British GP (not that I condone booing, particularly a non-competitor).

"One more good start at Interlagos and he's home and hosed." You might like to add also he needs one more race of the great reliability too before you count your chickens

Flashy architecture doesn't make good racing. The Canadian GP produced memorable races and was a highlight for me year after year. Very disappointing, but not surprising given Bernie's totally misplaced priorities. Bernei: Good racing venues should be the number 1 priority - not that our words will get through your arrogant, thick head.

couldn't agree more with what you say DC.

You're a joke Andrew Davies. Webber was driving down the outside white line ON THE STRAIGHT when Hamilton continued to push him off. Raikkonen squeezed Hamilton at Spa in the chicane. 2 very different scenarios. If Webber had crashed Hamilton would be facing a lot of criticism, if not sanction, for his poor conduct.

My god, Hamilton's head is growing by the day. Hope the 2009 car is nice and wide. Don't know how he can say Raikkonen missed an opportunity to take big points off him since Kimi only started one place ahead...

I love Kimi, but he got beaten by Lewis at Spa, and the penalty was wrong. However, there is a lot of rubbish being said here: 1/ Hamilton fell in behind Kimi as they crossed the line. Therefore, before they reached the next corner Hamilton was in the same position as he was prior to the chicane. No penalty should apply. 2/ Hamilton was already off the track when Raikkonen passed him under yellow. Raikkonen is not required to sit and wait for Hamilton to crawl back on. You can't be sure he didn't slow down - the speed decrease would have been less dramatic because a) he was travelling slower than normal due to the wet track b) he would have braked more lightly to avoid locking up on the wet track. You cannot penalise someone for what they *may* have done. "If you replay the tapes you see Hamilton slow down for the yellows and then Raikkonen almost hit him because he isn't taking any notice." - err, Raikkonen was following and therefore *could* have been unsighted. You can't make this assumption or claim Kimi wasn't 'taking any notice'. 3/ Stop bringing up Kimi hitting Sutil as an example. Kimi was not attempting to pass, so it can't be classed the same as Kovalainen hitting Webber. Kimi hit Sutil when he lost control of his car just as Sutil happened to brake for the corner. Racing incident, as harsh on Sutil as it was. 4/ When the hell is F1 getting full-time dedicated officials that go to every race. There's less money in cricket, yet they can afford a larger contingent of umpires and match referees than what F1 needs.