According to the Stefan GP boss Zoran Stefanovic, discussions between his team and the American USF1 squad over a potential merger of the two operations have collapsed after being "sabotaged" by some of the USF1 stakeholders.
Reports last week suggested that the two teams were in discussions over a merger, which would see the USF1 team, which is struggling to build a car for 2010 and has already asked to miss the first four races, link up with the Stefan GP team, which has a Toyota-based car, but no entry on the 2010 grid.
The discussions were said to be led by the USF1 investor and YouTube founder Chad Hurley.
But Stefanovic today acknowleged that those discussions have collapsed, with the Serbian blaming the "inflexibility of certain players" for bringing discussions to an early end.
Although he didn't name names, USF1 founders Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson were earlier rumoured to be against the Hurley-led merger plans.
"Yes, it is true we had some discussions stretching over many days," Stefanovic was quoted as saying by Autosport, "But these broke down completely on Thursday afternoon European time due to the inflexibility of certain players.
"I stress it was not Chad Hurley, who was open to discussions with us, but some of the other stakeholders who sabotaged the talks."
Stefanovic also reported that efforts by the Serbian team to complete a deal with Jacques Villeneuve were close to being completed, with the Canadian reportedly set for a seat fitting on Monday.
Villeneuve, the balding 1997 F1 world champion, would join former Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima at the team for 2010, though what they would do if the team failed to get a 2010 entry is unclear.
The team had originally announced plans to test throughout 2010 if they couldn't get an entry, but the team had to cancel a recently-planned test in Portugal after failing to secure a supply of tyres from Bridgestone. However, reports today have suggested that the tea, has sourced some Avon tyres suitable to conduct a shakedown test on.
The team are also reported to be close to completing the build of their second car, and plan to launch their car and drivers to the media on Wednesday.
It has also been suggested that the team will sign Venezuelan GP2 driver Pastor Maldonado as their reserve driver.
The team confirmed in a statement on Sunday that they continue to push for a place on the 2010 grid.
"SGP would like to re-confirm its desire and, importantly, its ability to compete in the whole of the FIA 2010 F1 World Championship," another dodgity-worded statement from the team said.
"It recognises that this can only happen with the consent of the FIA and the FOM, but we have faith that the F1 'family' will make the correct decision in the end.
"There will be no more press releases on this subject and we look forward to being allowed to show everyone our team in Bahrain."
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
