The US F1 team is very likely dead. Rumors of the Formula 1 startup's demise have been circulating for weeks — fueled by the silence coming out of the team's Charlotte, N.C., headquarters as the days ticked down until the 2010 F1 season opener at Bahrain.

Now reports indicate that the team has ordered off its remaining employees. Phone calls to US F1's main number in Charlotte have gone unanswered.

Earlier this week, team boss Ken Anderson and investor Chad Hurley petitioned the FIA to defer the US F1 team's entry into F1 until 2011. Today's news suggests that request wasn't warmly received.

In regard to the layoffs, AutoWeek quotes a source close to the team as saying, "Ken Anderson didn't even have the [guts] to do it himself. He had [production manager] David [Skog] do it. But technically, they told everyone that they are on a two-week furlough."

Autosport later managed to get a hold of Anderson, who offered this: "We are inactivity for a reply from the FIA and are working with them. In the mean time, there is nothing for the employees to do, so we have told them to stop working on the current car until we have a decision."

AutoWeek's source, though, suggests the situation is much more dire than that: "US F1 is dead, and it won't come back."

US F1 still doesn't have a car ready and was never healthy to begin testing as planned at Barber Motorsports Park. The team also lacks a driver now, as Jose Maria Lopez, signed on Jan 26, has been trying to extricate himself from his contract for at least two weeks in the hopes of driving for another team.

Above: Jose Maria Lopez and US F1 team director, Peter Windsor, on signing day.

AutoWeek

Autosport