SEPTEMBER 28, 2003

Villeneuve-BAR, the world waits...

Craig Pollock has been absent from the F1 paddock for the last couple of months but he was back at Indianapolis to negotiate with BAR boss David Richards to see whether or not Jacques Villeneuve will be staying with the team next year. It is understood that BAR has made a Jacques an offer and that a counter-offer has been put to the team by Pollock. The issue in question appears to be money but Villeneuve is arguing from a position of relative weakness (he has no other serious F1 options, despite unlikely rumors that he might go back to Williams) and BAR is under a certain amount of pressure to sign up Honda's protege Takuma Sato. Villeneuve's one strength is that he has long been associated with BAT's Lucky Strike marketing policy and Sato does not really fit the bill as a replacement. However if Honda is willing to put some more money into the team, Sato's candidature becomes increasingly attractive to the team management.