Felipe McGough, Manager of José María López, has publically criticised US F1 Team Principal Ken Anderson, claiming that the American is the 'main culprit' in a situation which has seen the Charlotte-based team 'fool' several parties including its own employees and those who run Formula 1.
With López having been signed as a US F1 driver at the end of January, the Argentinean's debut in the sport looks unlikely this year although a reserve drive at Hispania Racing (formerly known as Campos Meta) is still on the cards.
"The main culprit of all this is Ken Anderson," McGough explained to Argentina's FOX Sports. "These people fooled the FIA (F1 governing body), FOTA and all the teams, FOM (F1 commercial rights holder), all the employees they hired, 'Pechito' López and (ex F2 driver) Miloš Pavlovic, the other driver they had signed to be in the project.
"It's not like they only fooled us. The US F1 situation in Europe is some sort of scandal amongst teams because it makes F1 looks very bad; Argentina is just a small part of the problem but it's very, very big for Formula 1."
McGough added that López's deal was signed only two days after an FIA inspector noted that the US F1 project was running properly and now confirms that the driver is no longer part of the outfit, whose chiefs are expected to travel to Argentina in order to make a formal apology.
"We spent all day talking with the team and finally managed to get released from the contract," McGough continued. "We had a meeting with Ken Anderson, with Chad Hurley (head of primary team sponsor YouTube)'s representatives, with Peter Windsor (Sporting Director) and with team lawyers.
"It was a very complex situation because they had not breached the contract but we knew that they would not make it to Bahrain, so we had to find a solution so that José María would not be tied to the team and could then find an alternative - that's what we achieved after many hours of negotiation."
Also on Wednesday: Anderson: No more work until decision
Series
Formula 1
Personalities
Jose Maria López
Ken Anderson
Teams
US F1
Other
DTM Tickets (best price guarantee!) at Sportstadium.com
| Ken Anderson | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| More Ken Anderson photos | |||
| Jose Maria López | |||
 |  | |  |
| More Jose Maria López photos | |||
English
Nederlands
Español
Italiano
