USF1's Anderson stops talking in present tense

There is no longer any expectation that the Charlotte-based USF1 will race in Formula One this year.

The stated hope now is to be ready for 2011.

Designer Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor, a journalist and former F1 team manager, announced formation of the team a year ago in Charlotte. They have since battled significant financial and personnel issues.

Windsor appears much less involved now. Some F1 insiders believe Anderson is left standing atop of the team's remains with its primary investor, YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley.

As the leadership has changed, so have the team's ambitions.

One of four new operations granted spots on the grid for 2010, USF1 missed a number of key deadlines – set by investors and drivers, as well as racing officials.

Anderson had previously acknowledged that the team would be unable to make the first four races. The first, the Bahrain Grand Prix, is March 14.

"If the FIA say no (to the deferral) we are done," Anderson told bbc.co.uk on Wednesday. "If they say yes, we can put it back in gear and go."

A top official was dispatched last week to inspect USF1's operations in Charlotte. The team's hopes of racing next season, or at all, rest with executives of the FIA.

This much, if anything, is clear: the Charlotte-based operation's troubles do not open any doors for other prospective competitors in 2010.

The FIA announced Wednesday that USF1's place on the grid would not be awarded to another team.

"The USF1 Team have indicated that they will not be in a position to participate in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship," the sport's governing body said in a statement Wednesday.

"Having considered the various options, the (International Automobile Federation) confirms that it is not possible for a replacement team to be entered for the championship at this late stage."

By most accounts, the always volatile politics of world racing – and F1's major domo, billionaire Englishman Bernie Ecclestone – contributed heavily to the U.S. start-up's difficulties.

Otherworldly expenses and jittery investors were increasingly burdensome, too, F1 insiders note.

But in a period of major upheaval in the world economy and Formula One – amid rule changes, attempts to impose a degree of financial restraint and the acrimonious departure of the BMW and Toyota factory teams – time might have finally become USF1's biggest enemy.

<B>Elsewhere, the new</B> Campos Meta F1 team has been renamed Hispania Racing Team.

The Spanish team, which will be also known by the initials HRT-F1, changed names following businessman Jose Ramon Carabante's acquisition of Adrian Campos' team last week.

Its drivers will be introduced Thursday, with Bruno Senna, nephew of three-time champion Ayrton Senna, already confirmed. Indian driver Karun Chandhok is expected to partner with the Brazilian.

Argentina's Jose Maria Lopez, whose deal with USF1 has crumbled, was expected to sign as a reserve driver for HRT-F1.

<B>CNN has signed</B> a long-term contract to sponsor Lotus F1.

The team, founded by Colin Chapman and driven to fame by Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt and Emerson Fittipaldi, among others, now is backed by Malaysian investors.

<I>The Associated Press and other news services contributed to this report.</I>