1997 world champion and potential new team owner Jacques Villeneuve has said that he believes the governing body will announce their final decision on the identity of the 13th Formula One team for the 2011 season by the end of August.
Villeneuve has teamed up with the former GP2 squad Durango for an audacious bid to rejoin the Formula One grid for the first time since mid-2006 in an owner/driver role for next season.
The FIA are still debating over the identity of the 13th team for 2011 after USF1 collapsed earlier this season.
Villeneuve/Durango are believed to be competing with Epsilon Euskadi and Stefan GP for the final grid slot, though an official list of prospective entries has not been released.
The FIA could also choose to dismiss all of their bids and leave the 13th slot open for another season.
Villeneuve, who is currently in Montreal for another NASCAR Nationwide Series appearance, believes that either way, the decision will be made in the next few days.
"The decision will made at the end of the month," told La Presse Canadienne in Montreal.
He added: "I hope nothing is announced during the [NASCAR] race weekend. I don't want to spend my weekend discussing Formula One.
"But if there is a positive outcome, I will put all my efforts into building this team."
He added that the FIA representatives had "seemed pleased" after he and Durango chiefs had made their pitch to the governing body in Europe recently.
"We did our presentation to a panel and there was no immediate reaction, but everyone seemed pleased," he bragged.
"We don't know whether another group made a presentation or not. I know we did a good presentation."
He added that: "It's all or nothing; either it works and it's great, or they say no and everything we've done falls into the water."
Villeneuve's belief that the FIA's decision was set for the end of the month was backed up by a report in the Finnish Turun Sanomat publication, that confirmed that the 13th team would be revealed in the next week.
It also suggested that the Epsilon Euskadi squad was no longer in the running for the spot, amid reports that the Spanish team was pursuing a technical link-up with the Hispania Racing team.
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