Mar.2 (GMM) Having earlier predicted Michael Schumacher’s 2010 return to formula one, Eddie Jordan now thinks the Serbian outfit Stefan GP will be on the Bahrain grid next weekend.
“My understanding is that they will be in Bahrain with Jacques Villeneuve driving,” the former F1 team owner and boss, and now expert pundit for British television, told the BBC.
38-year-old French-Canadian Villeneuve, the 1997 world champion who has been out of F1 since he lost his BMW-Sauber seat in 2006, reportedly had a seat fitting at departed team Toyota’s Cologne factory on Monday.
The Cologne facility currently houses Stefan GP, who despite not having an official entry for 2010 have prepared Toyota’s 2010 package.
Jordan said the team will take the place on the grid currently reserved for USF1, the failing American outfit that has asked to lodge a seven-digit US dollar bond so that its FIA entry is frozen until 2011.
But after the FIA’s Charlie Whiting recently visited USF1’s Charlotte base, it is rumoured that the governing body might revoke the entry.
USF1’s woes are bad news for sporting director Peter Windsor, whose role as the pit presenter for Speed TV has been filled, and also James Rossiter, who had been lined up to be Jose Maria Lopez’s teammate but will instead race in the Indycar series.
Irishman Jordan, 61, said USF1 backer Chad Hurley – the chief executive and co-founder of YouTube – might also switch his support to Stefan GP.
In a recent statement, Stefan GP – headed by Serbian businessman Zoran Stefanovic – said it has the “ability” to contest the entire 2010 world championship.
But after the team recently called off its test debut due to a lack of tyres, it is rumoured that the real reason for the cancellation was because it has not yet fully paid Toyota and completed the build of a second car.
