The publications Blick and Auto Motor und Sport revealed the news this week, to which Brawn replied: "We have been crash testing for the new car for the past two months, to be ready for the official tests.
"A new team should be doing the same if it wants to be ready for the beginning of the season," the Briton added.

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport estimated the chance that the Charlotte based team will be ready to race in 2010 at "zero".

It has been rumoured that one possible outcome for USF1 is the sale of its 2010 entry to another team.

The reports said that at a recent FOTA meeting, all team bosses with the exception of USF1 sporting director Peter Windsor wanted to forbid teams from selling their official entries.