F1 has several times tried to crack America, the last time ended in disaster. After 05 at Indianopolis and the farce of the race where most teams didn’t compete I’m surprised any fans turned up to the races in 06 and 07.
This year’s calendar seemed to be a disaster for hopes that F1 could expand into the USA, with Montreal not hosting a race.

However, that appears to be a blip along the way with Canada back for 2010 and USF1 (if successful) holds a lot of promise.

The US hasn’t had an F1 driver to cheer for since Speed and he hardly set the world alight. With a team to root for and a new base to search for fresh American talent to emulate the success of Mario Andretti, there could be a new horizon. This could eventually lead to the return of the US GP while F1 rakes in the money from the new market.

But it’s a tough task. If USF1 commit their project to America instead of basing their work in Europe then the costs of travel will shoot up. It is also a new team which has had a fair amount of doubts circling, Bernie himself not sounding too positive but they have finally shown life via Youtube. Youtube’s CEO Chad Hurley is working with the American outfit so they have a good PR machine to bolster the squad’s image.

All new teams are likely to suffer to some degree. The costs of F1 may be coming down and I seriously doubt the FIA would allow anyone on the grid who weren’t prepared to be there but F1 can be ruthless. Additionally, the cars are so close in terms of performance that one mistake could seriously leave them behind.

If USF1 folds then any chance of America getting some home team to be proud of is over. With no drivers and no team then there is no real reason why the fans should swamp to an F1 race or why the venues should pay the CVC so much to host a GP. North America’s beloved NASCAR is much more popular, successful and a true US sport. They have the IRL for open cockpits so it is of no surprise that F1 can find itself shut out of the continent so quickly.

There seems to be a good business model to crack the US-one step at a time. First Canada, a team, maybe a driver and then a race. After all of the failed attempts it is better to do this the right way rather than rush it. If F1 doesn’t tap into the American market properly in the future then it may give up all together and keep the focus on Europe and the East which have enough venues competing to hold a race.