Baumgartner still eyeing F1
Former Minardi driver Zsolt Baumgartner has refused to give up on his dreams of staying in Formula 1, even though it now appears certain that he will have to accept purely a testing role if he is to remain involved in grand prix racing
The Hungarian had been in talks with Jordan about a drive but, after the team's decision to sign Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro, he now has no chance of landing a race seat this year. The only unconfirmed vacancy is at Minardi, but autosport.com understands that Denmark's Nicolas Kiesa has agreed terms to race for the team.
Speaking to Sky Sports over the weekend, Baumgartner admitted he would look at all options but conceded that time was running out for him to land anything.
"My management is still having talks and I would love to join my ex-team Minardi, but to achieve this goal many conditions must be fulfilled," he said. "They had an offer for us a couple of weeks ago, but the conditions weren't present in this approach. Since then we haven't started new talks with them."
Speaking about losing out on the opportunity with Jordan, Baumgartner added: "I'm not sad although I was keen on working with Jordan, the team in which I made my debut in Formula 1. It seemed we had the chance to make a deal but when it came down to the details, we couldn't make an agreement
"Many people ask what will happen to me and some of them simply say that my F1 career is over. It's not a fact, it's just a question and I would like to ask for more patience from the media and the public."
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