Ollie White has asked the question "Does Danica Deserve An F1 Drive?" on his BlogF1 today. As I mentioned in my comment to the post, this raises all sorts of other considerations (although the direct answer is pretty obvious in my opinion) and I am moved at last to dream a little of the possibilities inherent in an American F1 team. Let it be understood, however, that I still doubt that USF1 will ever happen - the following thoughts are in the "what if..." category therefore.
Alexander Rossi and Dr Mario Theissen
The short answer to Ollie's question has to be no, of course. Danica Patrick has achieved enough in Indy cars to be considered competent and worth her seat in the American formula. But she is also nothing special and that does not bode well for a venture into F1 - it is a different ballgame, as evidenced most recently by Sebastien Bourdais' first year as a driver for Toro Rosso. Sea Bass may come good in his second year but is unlikely ever to enjoy anything like the overwhelming success he had in Champ Cars.
Danica does have enormous attraction for sponsors, however, and may be worth taking on for that reason alone. Probably the best thing to do would be to let her have a few test drives in a F1 car and then sign her up if she proves at all capable. That will certainly help with funding but leaves the matter of another driver still open.
Most commentators agree that any insistence on American drivers only is a bad idea, especially if it is applied right from the birth of the team. It limits the choice to very few drivers indeed, so parlous is the state of Stateside open wheel racing at the moment. And that is assuming that the drivers concerned would be interested in having a crack at F1, which is doubtful anyway.
But, assuming that the team sticks with the plan, it is going to need a driver of existing skills and experience in F1 to assist in development and setting up the car while Miss Patrick smiles for the cameras. That produces a very short list indeed - there is only one driver with the required qualifications and that is my old friend, Scott Speed. Say what you like about him but the fact remains that he is presently the only American who has been there, done the deed and got the T-shirt.
Scott has said that he would never go back to F1 but I think he could be persuaded quite easily. He has unfinished business there, after all, and must surely be tempted by a chance to prove all his detractors wrong. His previous problems stemmed mainly from personality clashes with the management of STR and it is unlikely that anything similar would occur in an American team where straight talking is valued rather than considered boorish.
So that would be my line-up for the first year of USF1 - Danica for sponsorship and Speed for experience. For the future however, say a couple of years from now, there is a young American driver who has the potential to take F1 by storm. I refer to Alexander Rossi, the guy hobnobbing with Dr Mario Theissen in the photo above.
The fact that it is Theissen he's chatting with is significant - Rossi is the reigning Formula BMW Americas Champion and he won the Formula BMW World Final, beating such up-and-coming talents as Esteban Gutierrez and Michael Christensen in the process. Part of the 17-year old Rossi's prize is a test in the BMW F1 car.
I watched some of Rossi's races last year and have to say that he is something rather special. His speed is such that the wins seemed inevitable, his performance making the others look ordinary at best. Forget the Andrettis and Rahals - America has talent and its name is Alexander Rossi.
So there are my thoughts on drivers for USF1. Of course, it probably will never happen and these are dreams only. But just think - what a brilliant shot in the arm it would be for both F1 and the States. I think I know what I want from Santa this year...