Former F1 world champion and potential 13th team co-owner Jacques Villeneuve has said that it was "annoying" that his involvement in one of the prospective 13th team bids for 2011 had been leaked to the press.
News of the proposed Villeneuve Racing bid, in conjunction with former GP2 Series team Durango, emerged last month, forcing the 1997 champion to issue a brief statement confirming his involvement.
But Vileneuve has now said that he had been hoping to keep quiet about his own involvement until later on down the line, saying that he had been annoyed that the details had been leaked.
The Canadian will travel to Europe next week in the expectation of hearing some news as to the outcome of his bid.
"I have no idea of what we're fighting up against," Villeneuve muttered when asked about his F1 bid, which if successful would see him return to the F1 grid for the first time since mid 2006.
"Everything had been kept quiet and we managed to keep it quiet a long time until someone decided to talk, that's not even part of organisation. That was a little bit annoying..."
He added that: "It's really hard to tell you what's going on because right now we don't have all the facts in front of us."
The Villeneuve/Durango team is one of three reported teams remaining in the running, along with the Epsilon Euskadi squad, and Serbian team Stefan GP. The FIA are expected to make a decision on the 13th team by the end of August.
Villeneuve was speaking after his latest appearence in the second-tier NASCAR Nationwide Series, at the road course at Watkins Glen.
Villeneuve eventually finished 8th in the race after briefly leading and being caught out by a late caution period, but he suggested that he would be potentially interested in a full season of NASCAR racing should his F1 plans fall through.
"I hope so," said Villeneuve when asked if he would like to race in NASCAR more in the future.
"At the end of the day what I want to do is the whole season, not just a few races here and there. I don't want to be perceived just as a road racer. That's not a very good career plan in NASCAR because you just do two or three races a year."
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