Villeneuve's Manager Denies $50 Million Snub

Jacques Villeneuve could still switch from Formula One to CART for a season if the right deal came along, the former World Champion's manager said today.

But Craig Pollock emphasised that no offers had been presented to him so far and he dismissed media reports that he and the Canadian driver had turned down a three-year $50 million proposal.

"It is a very big surprise to me that this all came out," he told Reuters. "It makes not just Jacques look like an idiot, it makes me look like an idiot and it makes Jacques look incredibly greedy. And it's not been the case.

"I can assure you that if I was in negotiations for $50 million, I wouldn't be standing here. I'd be on a plane somewhere."

Villeneuve, the 1997 champion, is expected to stay in Formula One in 2003 with British American Racing (BAR) as teammate to Briton Jenson Button. However, the Journal de Montreal reported this week, quoting Player's-Forsythe team co-owner Gerald Forsythe, that Villeneuve had been offered a year in CART followed by two more at BAR.

The paper also said that Pollock had refused the offer, saying it was too small.

"Unfortunately, Pollock wanted even more money," it quoted Forsythe as saying. "It's a shame, because we know the project interested Jacques, who didn't dislike the idea of coming back to North America where he could have won races."

No Offer

Pollock presented a different version of events.

"Players, at around about the time of the Montreal Grand Prix, got in touch with me to have a meeting and they wanted to know if I would have any interest in doing one year with them in the CART championship," he said.

"We basically told them very clearly that we were under contract with British American Racing for next year and that we couldn't negotiate because it would be incorrect and he (Villeneuve) would be in breach of his contract.

"We have been aware that there have been discussions in the background but have never been made any form of offer, either verbally or in writing."

Asked whether the prospect of a one-year move to the United States was now dead, Pollock said that it could only work if there was a cast-iron agreement to come back into Formula One for an extended period.

"Yes, obviously if it was the right deal. And I haven't seen the deal, I haven't seen anything at all."

The Canadian is one of the highest paid drivers in Formula One, with only Ferrari's World Champion Michael Schumacher taking home more according to paddock estimates, and BAR want to save money.

Team boss David Richards has said there is little point spending a fortune on a driver when the car is not good enough to do justice to his talents and has suggested the money would be better spent on development. By 'parking' Villeneuve in America for a season, BAR could speed up the car and give the 1997 champion a better machine when he returned.

Villeneuve, who has been at BAR since 1999, said at the last race in Hungary that 'apart from a golden contract" there was no reason to race in the United States.