By Huw Alban
June 11 2002

Last year a curious rumour broke that Red Bull were seriously interested in forming an all-American Formula 1 team, and that OrangeArrows were being considered as the number one candidate. Not long after, potential American drivers were also named for the team... Since then the rumours have all but dried up, but in the last week or so Red Bull have launched a Formula 1 Drivers Search programme, headed up by Danny Sullivan, which aims to get an American driver into the sport. This is seen as an important step in winning over the American public, especially as the F1 circus now competes at the Indianapolis track as part of the World Championship. Whether this search has any affect on the long term plans of the drinks company to form it’s own team is unclear, but it could be seen as the first step in establishing a clear link between Red Bull, Formula 1, and the future crop of drivers.

“We will pick four drivers, probably two a little bit younger and two a little bit more experienced,” Sullivan has been quoted as saying by Grandprix.com. “We will probably put them into anything from Formula 3, Formula Ford, Formula Nissan, Formula BMW or some other category, and not necessarily in one place. If we do Formula 3, we might put one in Formula 3 in England and one in Formula 3 in Germany.

“We are getting a lot of help from Bernie Ecclestone and F1 because everybody would like to see an American in F1. It is good for the sport, and it is the World Championship, so there is no reason why a country with as many people as we have shouldn’t be represented. We definitely have the talent.”