• 2011 season

Cypher Group pulls out of F1 bid

The American outfit Cypher Group has pulled out of the running to race in Formula One next year.

The group had applied for the 13th 2011 team entry and was reportedly in talks with American driver Jonathan Summerton and possibly also Nelson Piquet Jr. It had also emerged that former Brawn engineer Steve Brown, who previously worked on the failed USF1 project, was part of the Cypher effort.

But after Nicolas Todt's ART outfit also pulled out of the running, and Bernie Ecclestone's insistence that any new team pay a €19 million deposit, Cypher has admitted it does not have the money to race in 2011.

"After much deliberation we have decided that the budget we have is not sufficient to allow us to pursue the project in a manner befitting the series," read a statement.

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