Mario Andretti plugs grandson for American F1 ride

The founders of a new U.S.-based Formula One team plan to hire a pair of American drivers, and Mario Andretti believes his grandson is the perfect choice to fill one of the seats.

Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor, the principals behind the team they call USF1, officially announced their intent Tuesday to run the 2010 schedule. The motorsports veterans said they'll base the team in Charlotte, home for most NASCAR teams, and scour the market for young American drivers.

"Who they are ... your guess is as good as mine," said Windsor, a former team manager for Ferrari and Williams and current F1 pit reporter for Speed TV. "But two American drivers, that's what we intend to do."

Windsor rattled off a list of relatively unknown open-wheel drivers currently competing in lower ranks, the most notable Jonathan Summerton, a 21-year-old Florida native racing in Europe in the A1GP Series.

Then he and Anderson turned to their dream list, which included former F1 driver Scott Speed, NASCAR star Kyle Busch and IndyCar glamour girl Danica Patrick. But Speed has said he has no interest in leaving NASCAR for an F1 return. Busch and Patrick both are willing to discuss the opportunity, but neither has been contacted by USF1 representatives.

Neither principal mentioned Marco Andretti, the budding IndyCar star and grandson of 1978 F1 world champion Mario Andretti.

Mario Andretti called into the news conference, which was televised live on Speed TV, as an invited guest in support of the USF1 team. During his comments, he recommended his 22-year-old grandson for a future F1 ride.

"Every time I mention Formula One, he says 'I'd give anything to have this opportunity,'" Andretti said. "If I were to design a Formula One driver today, I would design Marco. We'll see what the future brings for him."

Marco Andretti signed a contract extension last year with Andretti Green Racing, the team co-owned by hi! s father , Michael.

After Andretti hung up, Windsor added Marco Andretti to the list of potential hires, as well as Graham Rahal, a 20-year-old IndyCar driver.

Both were testing Tuesday at Homestead-Miami Speedway and said they had not been contacted by anyone from the new F1 team.

"I've got to focus on the task at hand," the younger Andretti said. "I mean, obviously, Formula One is my ultimate goal. But I'm not sure that's the way to go, on a first-year team. But, having said that, I'm definitely willing to do whatever it takes to get over there."

First, though, Andretti has another goal.

"I'm ready to go for a championship," he said. "I don't see a weak spot in the schedule for the (No.) 26 car. So that's going to be the goal."

Rahal, son of longtime open-wheel star and Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, said he too has things to do before considering a shot at F1.

"Obviously, Formula One was always of interest," he said. "I cannot deny that it is. But, at the same time, to leave IndyCar racing, to leave the U.S., it needs to be the right opportunity. I understand they're saying they're going to run it out of Charlotte or something like that, but that's very tough to do in the Formula One world, and that's going to be very hard to make it work properly.

"I'd like to certainly see what I can do here. With (Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing), I've got a great chance to win a lot of races and championships. That would be hard to walk away from."

There has not been an American driver in F1 since Speed was released from Toro Rosso in the summer of 07. Speed, who has since moved to NASCAR, was the first American driver since Michael Andretti in 1993.

The list of potential drivers was one of the few details revealed, as Windsor and Anderson had nothing concrete to offer about their planned race team.

They are looking at a building in Charlotte to house the operation, and plan to hire roughly 100 team members and operate with an annual budget of about $64 mil! lion. Th ey also plan to have a "logistical base" in Europe to house transporters and equipment.

Beyond that, they would reveal little else.

Windsor said they've secured four private investors, but declined to reveal their identities and said their stakes in USF1 are small enough that he and Anderson will remain the primary owners.

Anderson, who worked for the Ligier and Onyx F1 teams in the 1980s before turning to designing and engineering IndyCars, said the team will rely heavily on American technical support.

"Most of the technology in Formula One comes from the United States to begin with," he said. "The cost of doing business in the United States is significantly cheaper than Europe, and there are a lot of good people here."

Windsor said the duo has been working for several years on forming this race team, and waited until they felt it was actually a reality before revealing their plans. He recognized their timing coincides with the worldwide recession, and getting off the ground will not be easy.

"We've set some unbelievably steep hills to climb in the recession," he said. "We're now two guys that can say we're going to do a Formula One team — because we've got the capital to do it. For those out there who say 'Where's all the money? Where's the huge facility? Where's all the money falling out of the sky?' that isn't ever going to happen with USF1.

"We've always had a very different approach and that approach will become visible as time goes on and this year unfolds."

Could US F1 Team in 2010 feature Danica Patrick?

An American team will be racing in Formula One next year, and IndyCar driver Danica Patrick is a candidate to fill one of the seats.

USF1, which will be unveiled Feb. 24, will have a staff of at least 100, a working budget of $64 million and an aim to put two American drivers on the starting grid. The team is looking at several candidates, including the 26-year-old Patrick.

"She's great. She gets a lot of press," USF1 technical director Ken Anderson told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "(Indianapolis Motor Speedway president) Tony George would probably be pretty mad with me if I took her out of the IRL but we'll see.

"I don't know if it's something she wants to do. We'd certainly love to test her and go from there."

NASCAR driver Scott Speed, who raced 28 times for F1 team Toro Rosso from 2006-07, is also a candidate.

Conor Daly — son of former F1 driver Derek Daly — and Josef Newgarden are also being mentioned, with both drivers presently competing in European junior categories.

The team will be based in Charlotte, N.C., and with much of the technology coming from the United States it means "there are a lot of companies we can lean on to outsource," according to Anderson.

Calls by the AP to motor racing's governing body Sunday to confirm that USF1's entry had been accepted were not returned.

The team is currently looking for a secondary base in Europe, most likely sharing with Epsilon Euskadi's team headquarters in northern Spain.

"We're talking to (F1 engineer) Sergio Rinland about basing it at Espselon. It's a beautiful city, it's certainly on top of our list," said Anderson, who worked as a designer and engineer in F1 and IndyCar. "Spain makes a lot of sense with all the winter testing."

Epsilon Euskadi is active in Le Mans and there is a wind tunnel there that meets FIA standards.

Getting back into F1 was a no-brainer for Anderson.

"It's the biggest sport in the world and the biggest TV show in the world," he said! . "NASCA R has just become a national sport, never mind an international sport."

With the global economic downturn, more independent teams are possible, especially since FIA president Max Mosley stepped in to reign in the costs with sweeping regulation changes and cost-cutting coming into effect to avoid any other teams from pulling out.

Honda's exit in December is no surprise to Anderson since the Japanese manufacturer's core business interests lay elsewhere.

"Mosley had to step in and stop F1 from killing itself with the manufacturers throwing ungodly money and people and resources at it. It's got to get back to a real business like Frank Williams owns Williams, Ron Dennis owns McLaren, Eddie Jordan owns Jordan and they all had to show a profit at the end of the year and, therefore, had to make intelligent decisions.

"One little hiccup like this and it's all sort of imploded."

The drop in costs has "leveled the playing field" although Anderson is targeting points to start.

Pete Windsor, a former team manager at Ferrari and Williams, will partner Anderson and run the competition side of the team.

Anderson remains a throwback to the late 80s and early 90s of F1 when he worked at Williams, Ligier and Onyx.

"In '92, the Williams was the coolest car ever with active suspension, (anti-brake system), that was kind of the peak of technology and their budget for that was less than 30 million pounds," Anderson said. "I missed the days when we could do some crazy things."

Kenseth out front during Daytona 500 rain delay

Matt Kenseth is leading the Daytona 500 during a rain delay that might hand the former NASCAR champion his first victory in NASCAR's biggest race of the year.

Kenseth passed Elliott Sadler with 54 laps to go in Sunday's race. Caution came out moments later for an accident started by Paul Menard, and the rain that had been threatening all day finally arrived.

NASCAR stopped the race two laps later, and the cars were called to pit road. Some drivers climbed from their cars to wait out the delay, but Kenseth is still sitting inside the No. 17 Ford.

Kevin Harvick is in second. AJ Allmendinger, who raced his way into the field in one of Thursday's qualifying events, is in third.