US F1, which yesterday reportedly put all employees on unpaid leave, continues to claim that is ready to resume operations if Formula 1's governing body approves its request to delay its entry until 2011.
“If the FIA says no (to the deferral), we are done,” team principal Ken Anderson told BBC Sport. “If they say yes, we can put it back in gear and go.”
An FIA spokesman told the British network that a statement on the matter would be made soon. “When we are in a position to make a definitive statement, we will,” the spokesman added. The FIA's ruling could coincide with a decision on whether Stefan GP, the Serbian-based group that hopes to run the former Toyota team's cars, will be permitted to take US F1's place on the 2010 grid.
Anderson blames the delayed signing of the Concorde Agreement between the FIA and F1 teams for putting US F1 impossibly behind in its announced plans to compete this year.
"We put our entry in with the FIA in December 2008 and wanted to start work on the car in March 2009, but the delay in signing the Concorde Agreement until July meant we couldn't start until August,” Anderson said. “We were on course, despite an insanely tight schedule, but then people got cold feet.”
Anderson told AUTOSPORT yesterday, "We have applied to the FIA to hold our entry until 2011. It was supposed to be confidential, so I could not really comment on it. It seems to have leaked out though.
"We are waiting for a reply from the FIA and are working with them. In the meantime, there is nothing for the employees to do, so we have told them to stop working on the current car until we have a decision."
Co-founder Peter Windsor and team patron Chad Hurley, who reportedly had tried to arrange a merger between US F1 and Stefan GP, have offered no comment on the situation.