» USF1 seeks permission to skip races

The co-owner of USF1, Ken Anderson, has confirmed that he will apply to the FIA to permit it to miss the first four races of the 2010 season.

With the equally financially precarious Campos team looking infinitely more stable courtesy of a recently-announced management buyout, the same cannot be said for the speculation surrounding USF1.

The team has been dogged by rumours that it is well behind schedule and lacking the budget to supplement that brought by its solely signed ~~wallet~~ driver, José Mariá López.

Further speculation has its chef sponsor, YouTube looking to leave the team and switch to Campos, but YouTube and USF1 have of course denied such speculation.

Anderson confirmed to the New York Times that the team more than likely miss the season-opening Bahrain GP on 14 March, but was also seeking permission from the FIA to miss the subsequent rounds in Australia, Malaysia and China.

Although Bernie Ecclestone recently confirmed that there exists a clause in the Concorde Agreement to permit any team to miss up to three races of a championship season, the FIA has since restated its position and declared such actions would be in breach of its Sporting Regulations.

"I guess anything’s possible," he answered when asked if the team could be slapped with fines if it missed several rounds. "But what would be the point of that? Why would they give us a franchise and just, the first time there’s a bump in the road, yank it and put it out of business?

"That’s definitely not the message that I’m getting from them. They want to help us, not shut us down."

Will the FIA come to the party?