Ecclestone "requests" USF1 name change, US Grand Prix Engineering born

There will be no USF1 in Formula 1 racing this year – or any year for that matter. A full year before the new American team was set to take to the track in 2010, they have been shot down by the very series they planned to compete in. But before you get too upset and think this is a case of Anti-American bias or something, know that it is just the name that the sanctioning body was objecting to.

Apparently Bernie Ecclestone and Formula One Management (FOM) weren't overly fond of the use of "F1" in the team's initially stated name. So it's out with USF1 and in with USGPE, which stands for US Grand Prix Engineering. We wouldn't be surprised to hear that Pontiac is now threatening a lawsuit, or perhaps sponsorship.

Just for clarification, Formula 1 has allowed "F1" in a team's name, but only if the word "Team" is also used. The lone exception is Williams, which officially goes by WilliamsF1. In related news, Force India was asked to revise their logo because "FI" looks too much like "F1". The team will now use a lowercase "i" in the logo to avoid confusion with the series. Got all that? So USF1 is now USGPE and Force India is now using "Fi" instead of "FI". Thanks for the tip, Ryan!

[Source: F1-Live]

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