Formula One team boss hopeful Jacques Villeneuve, who is bidding for the 13th grid slot with a joint bid with the Durango team, says that the FIA are being tougher on the candidates for the 2011 season in the wake of the USF1 "fiasco".
Villeneuve's collaboration with the former GP2 team is one of three hopefuls still bidding for the 13th and final slot on the 2011 grid, along with Le Mans constructor Epsilon Euskadi and Serbian squad Stefan GP.
The FIA is set to make a final decision on the identity of F1's latest newbie backmarker by the end of August, and insiders have indicated that they could choose to leave the 13th slot open for another year if they are unimpressed with the remaining bids.
And Villeneuve admits that the tendering process has become "harder" this season as the FIA seeks to avoid a repeat of their 2010 selection problems.
Of the four new teams chosen by the FIA for 2010, the Campos Meta team only made the grid following a late buyout and rebranding exercise to Hispania Racing, entering the season opener in 2010 without completing any pre-season testing, while the USF1 squad was forced to miss the start of the season after a series of financial and development problems, closing down shortly after the start of the season.
None of the new teams have yet scored a point, and all six cars invariably fill up the back three rows of the grid at each race weekend.
Villeneuve said that the FIA had stepped up their due diligence processes in the wake of the USF1 issue.
"It's harder to be accepted this year because the FIA does not want the fiasco of 2009 to be repeated," Villeneuve muttered to La Presse last weekend, referring to the USF1 debacle.
He added that: "We are working very hard without knowing actually what will happen. It is possible that our project is the best, but it is also possible that we will be rejected."
The 1997 F1 champion also scoffed at the suggestion that his bid would be rejected over the "old rivalry" he had enjoyed with new FIA president Jean Todt. Villeneuve beat Ferrari's Michael Schumacher to the title in 1997 while Todt was running the Italian team in an acrimonious last-round collision.
"I have always been well with Jean Todt and I cannot imagine that the FIA's decision could be influenced by an old rivalry," he shrugged when asked if he had any concerns.
"Anyway, Jean Todt is not going to be alone in this decision, I'm sure."
He added that he was not putting his ongoing NASCAR interests on hold despite his F1 bid. Villeneuve raced in the second-tier Nationwide Series at the weekend at Watkins Glen, finishing a creditable 8th, and has made no secret of his desire to compete in a full NASCAR season in the future.
"Both sides seem unaware of what is happening on the other side, so it has no influence," Villeneuve explained, "These are exciting projects and I have no reason to stop them."
He added: "Three years ago, when I put F1 to the side, there were people interested in supporting me, but not on this side of the Atlantic."
Villeneuve has already confirmed that he would become an owner-driver in the Villeneuve/Durango team should they be accepted, a move that would mark his return to the F1 grid for the first time since he parted company with BMW Sauber midway through the 2006 season.
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