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On 24 February 2009, American Ken Anderson and Australian Peter Windsor announced that they were planning to launch an F1 team in the hope of securing a place on the grid in 2010.
The move followed the FIA's own announcement that it intended allowing as many as three new team to secure entries in 2010 as part of Max Mosley's grand plan to reduce spending and thereby open up the sport to the sort of independent teams that comprised the F1 grid in the sport's golden days.
The fact that it was Mosley who encouraged the manufacturers to enter the sport and force out the independent teams in the first place we shall leave alone for now.
The plan to introduce a budget cap of £40m brought F1 spending almost into the realms of the affordable certainly compared to the hundreds of millions that the manufacturers had been spending.
US F1, as the new team would be known, and if accepted by the FIA, would be the first American team in more than forty years and right from the start Anderson and Windsor were bullish, to say the least.
"If you look at the way it's been done in the past, at least in recent years, it's been either find an incredibly rich billionaire and have him dominate the team or be lucky enough to be invited by a large car company to set up their Formula One operation," said Anderson. "Peter and I have been around long enough not to want to do either of those two things. We've always wanted to do our own team our own way and that's what US F1 is all about."
While the FIA's selection process was not due to take place for some months, Windsor was confident that US F1 was the sort of outfit Mosley had been looking for.
The FIA instantly grasped the program and understood what Ken and I wanted to do," said the Australian. "How we are approaching this team - the lean, mean skunkworks approach - is exactly the sort of thing the FIA are looking for from the other teams in the future."
A month later, on March 24, Windsor confirmed that his team had paid a deposit to Cosworth, the legendary engine builder which had won the contract to provide 'standard engines', for F1 and which were to become de rigeur for all the new teams.
On June 12, the FIA granted US F1 an entry in the 2010 Formula One World Championship along with Campos Grand Prix and Manor Grand Prix while Lotus F1 was to secure an entry in the wake of BMW's withdrawal.
"Today is a great day for American motorsports," said Windsor. "Formula One is the most popular sport in the world and Ken and I are excited about the opportunity to showcase American technology and ingenuity to the rest of the world."
After that it all went quiet. The team's website featured an anonymous holding page while updates on progress were occasionally leaked to certain sections of the media.
In terms of the team's organization, the factory was to be based in Charlotte, North Carolina while a secondary European base would be established at Motorland Aragon in Spain. However, it was the team's line-up that had everyone guessing.
With the team pushing its American credentials to the limit, all manner of American stars were being linked with it even if most of them had never heard of US F1 or simply weren't interested. While Bernie Ecclestone salivated at the thought Danica Patrick lining up on the grid in 2010 in an all-American car the girl had other ideas.
Nonetheless, in terms of drivers Windsor knew what he wanted and what he didn't want. In August, asked if his team would consider pay drivers, the Australian was adamant. "We've been offered well over three-quarters of our racing budget by two drivers already," he said, "neither of whom have raced in Formula One but both have won races in GP2. Both of them have massive sponsorship they can bring us from their home country. Ken Anderson and I have got to be very strong, look one another in the eye and say, 'No, we're not going to accept that money, we're not going to hire those guys because we're going to remain true to our convictions'.
"There are very good American drivers out there," he added. "To be honest, shame on Formula One and shame on American motorsport that some of these great young Americans with single-seater talent have not been nurtured more and given more opportunity."
Needless to say, faced with the stark reality of F1's pulling power in the USA not to mention the global financial crisis, by November the team was in talks with Jose Maria Lopez, a young Argentine driver who claimed he had a deal to drive for US F1 providing he could come up with $8m in sponsorship.
"I would be very happy if he raced with us next year," Windsor told Autosport. "He's not just another driver on the list. Jose is more than that. He is a driver we are interested in and we want him to be with us. We would like to sign the contract as soon as possible."
With the team still playing its cards very close to its chest giving little info of any worth to the media other than soundbites it was obvious that there would be speculation as to whether the team was really going to make it to the grid in 2010.
The issuing of a few photographs of the team's HQ did little to quell the mounting scepticism, fans taking to message boards and forums to voice their doubts and concerns.
Earlier in the year Windsor had talked of major investors including YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley and advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, yet we were seeing nothing tangible.
On December 22, Bernie Ecclestone spoke openly of his doubts regarding US F1, saying: "I think the people we expected to perform will and those that we thought wouldn't, won't," he told the Times.
Within hours, Windsor had sprung into action, telling the BBC: "I'm surprised Bernie said that. We will be there, we're in good shape. Everything is going well and we are looking forward to the year. We've just finished the chassis and are now in the hands of Cosworth."
As if by magic, that same day the website's holding page gave way to a proper, professional looking portal where fans could read Windsor's blog - all one page of it - and look at more pictures of the factory.
In the weeks that followed, more pages were added to the blog and more pictures appeared while the team opened its own section on YouTube.
For a while all seemed OK, and the speculation died down. The team announced that rather than heading to Europe for pre-season testing, the initial work would be carried out at Barber Motorsport Park in Alabama early February. "We are allowed three sessions in the US," said Windsor. "Then we will ship the car to Spain to do some testing there before we fly out to Bahrain."
However, weeks later word from the team's North Carolina HQ was that the car wouldn't test until late February, missing all the European tests, and for the first time there was talk of it missing the season opener.
In the meantime, the team had concluded the deal with Lopez, the Argentine having reportedly stumped up around £5m. We say, "he" stumped up the cash, whereas the reality is that the youngster had received financial backing from his government, indeed, the deal was announced by the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, in Government House in Buenos Aires on the afternoon of January 25.
Time passed and with no further updates from the team, save for the very occasional blog entry and yet more photographs of men staring at computer screens, speculation intensified.
On February 18, the team's website went AWOL, leading to speculation that the excrement had finally hit the fan. However, a few hours later it was back up, while the team tweeted (!?!) that all was well.
From then on, it came thick and fast. In the wake of comments made by Bernie Ecclestone and subsequently appearing to be supported by Jean Todt, the FIA issued a statement announcing that teams would not be allowed to miss any races. This came at a time when it was widely believed that US F1 would take advantage of a new clause in the Concorde Agreement, whereby - according to Ecclestone - teams could miss up to three races.
Subsequently, in the wake of the FIA's clarification, Anderson said that his team was seeking dispensation to miss the first four races, joining the championship in Spain.
At this point, Ferrari launched a scathing attack on the FIA's selection process and US F1, accusing the American team of "impudence" for insisting that everything was "hunky-dory".
Subsequently, Pitpass broke the news that a major sponsor, Locstein Group, a global financial services firm based in Geneva, has walked away from the team, while there was increasing speculation as to Chad Hurley's involvement in the US F1 project.
On March 24, as the teams were preparing for the final pre-season test, the FIA's Charlie Whiting visited Charlotte to see where things stood. Meanwhile there was wild talk of possible mergers with Campos Meta or even Serbian hopeful Stefan GP.
On March 2, two weeks before the season opener, it appeared as though the game was up, the team's HQ was no longer answering its phones and production manager Dave Skog told the remaining staff that they were now on unpaid leave.
Meanwhile, Lopez' manager, Felipe McGough, launched a stinging attack on the team and its management, demanding the return of the £554,000 ($834,000) deposit paid to secure the youngster's drive. "Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor will travel to Argentina in the coming days to give us an explanation about everything that has happened, since the sole responsibility is theirs," he told Argentina radio station Cadena 3 Cordoba. "The main culprit is Ken Anderson," he continued. "He deceived the FIA, FOTA, FOM and broke the Concorde Agreement."
The following day the FIA issued its definitive entry list for 2010 and US F1 wasn't on it, nor had Stefan GP been allowed to buy its slot.
Already however, Anderson was looking ahead to 2011, asking the FIA for a deferral. "We have applied to the FIA to hold our entry until 2011," he told the Autosport website. "We are waiting for a reply and are working with them. In the meantime, there is nothing for the employees to do," he added, "so we have told them to stop working on the current car until we have a decision."
Whatever happens, this is no time for schadenfreude, for this sorry saga has damaged the sport and is another slap in the face for American race fans.
However, the real lesson to be learned here, other than the obvious flaws in the selection process, is that one should learn to walk before one tries running, far less acting like an Olympic champion.
US F1 were telling us they were the best thing since sliced bread long before they'd turned a wheel, before they had a wheel to turn. They cynically dressed spin as passion and then had the audacity to say that those who doubted them were in the wrong, passing us off as doom mongers.
Had they tried to work with the media and fans instead of insisting on doing it their way, and forever telling us it was the right way, there might have been some sympathy. However, they didn't, the new kids on the block knew best and were telling Ferrari and McLaren how it should be done.
While we have every sympathy for the employees we cannot help but agree with Mr McGough, when he said that "the FIA, FOTA and FOM" had all been deceived. They were, and so were the fans and the media.
In the words of Mr Praline (check): US F1 is now 'istory! 'it's kicked the bucket, it's shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! This is an ex-US F1.
All that is to be hoped now is that Jean Todt - having inherited this embarrassing mess from his predecessor - will not allow it to drag on any longer and turn down the request for a deferred entry.
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