It is officially, official: Lopez USF1's first driver

USF1 has formally announced former Renault test driver Jose Maria Lopez for its debut season in F1. It is has been a move months in the making, but the team can finally confirm their choice. The second seat is still open with talk of former Honda tester James Rossiter filling that role as Windsor has hinted at 2 young drivers for the seats at USF1.

Although Windsor may be impressed by his new choice, I do not share his enthusiasm. Lopez is a seat warmer with money that will help USF1 as they build their operations. However, what should have been expected? Given the circumstances of a tough global economy and a new start-up team, you have to maximize your resources. USF1 have certainly done that given Lopez is backed by the Argentine government. So, perhaps I had a bit of wishful thinking that it would a more exciting pick.

With that said, he was a tester for Renault and member of their development program and with a very different rules package in 2010 then in 2006 who knows how he will perform. If Renault can overlook Kubica a few years ago, who is to say they did not overlook Lopez with the prospects of Kovalainen, Piquet Jr., and di Grassi in the pipeline at the time. Also, who thought that Kamui Kobayashi was anything exciting until he got his shot to drive in F1. So now that the choice is made I will be excited to see what he has to offer behind the wheel.

http://formulaoneamerica.blogspot.com/2010/01/usf1-launches-in-alabama-rookies-driver.html