Both sides of the failed team partnership between 1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve and the Durango GP2 team, which was recently rejected for the 13th grid slot for 2011, are still hopeful of a move to the F1 grid in the future.
The Villeneuve/Durango partnership was rejected by the FIA for the 13th and final Formula One team spot for next season, with the governing body also rejecting the only rival bid from Epsilon Euskadi and choosing instead to leave the space open for another season.But since being rejected, the two sides of the partnership are stil pressing on with their ambitions of making it to the Formula One grid next season, by buying into an existing team.
Speaking to the 422race.com website, Durango owner Ivone Pinton insisted that he and Villeneuve were still working on realising their F1 "adventure" for 2011.
"We started one year ago," he rambled regarding his link-up with Villeneuve, after both sides of the partnership had initially submitted separate 13th team bids to the FIA.
"I decided to be out of GP2, and I dedicated all myself to look for the right partners and economic possibilities. Villeneuve himself, who came to look for me to be able to do something together, was a good presence."
He explained that: “He raced for me in Speedcar Series, had fun and found out that, after knowing each other for 23 years, we were still the same people.
"It's a pleasant, sincere and quiet relationship. Now we are still working together and we hope for this adventure to realize."
Pinton revealed that he and Villeneuve were in contact with "a couple" of the current teams over the potential for investment or a buyout of their squad, but he admitted that it was not crucial for the situation to be resolved for next year, adding that Villeneuve was eyeing up a NASCAR campaign in America as well.
"If we can do it in 2011, fine. Otherwise we will go on working on it," he grinned.
"Meanwhile, [Villeneuve] proposed [to] me, if we won't be able to go to F1, to skip to NASCAR together and then come back trying to do things well in Europe."
He went on: "This is the most logical and possible situation. It's useless to do something if you aren't sure of the quality. And we already saw how it is to do F1 without quality.
"At the moment we are in contact with a couple of Formula One teams either to become partners or to buy the team, given that we have the possibilities to do things well and the right timing to move the economic part as well.
"Having said this, if it won't be this year, it will be the next. Meanwhile, we will do something else."
He also denied that there was any risk in linking up with the elderly ex-champion in Formula One. Villeneuve has not raced in F1 since being let go by BMW Sauber midway through the 2006 season.
"The first option is logically F1," Pinton rambled, "We started to do this, Villeneuve wants to do this and he would like to race for a couple of years more. He says, 'If [Michael] Schumacher is racing, I can do it as well, because I am three years younger than him.'.
"At the moment he's still well as a person, he's strong, he looks like a 15-year-old. He's totally involved in this project and phones me five times a day. He's a good person and I like working with him very much."
Pinton and Villeneuve had been linked with a by-in to the struggling Hispania Racing team, with fellow F1 rejects Epsilon Euskadi also reported to be working on linking with their fellow Spanish operation.
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