JV to test for Renault

Renault: 'Jarno's out & Jacques is in' [planet-f1.com] "...the team finally admitted on Tuesday evening that [Trulli's] departure is imminent. And that Jacques Villeneuve could be his replacement."

In following Formula 1 for the past few years, one thing I've come to realize is that no sport offers more in the way of media spin than F1. You think MLB or the NFL is bad with disingenuous injury reports? That's nothing compared to the spin that F1 teams put out.

Just yesterday Renault was adamantly denying that Trulli's race seat was in jeopardy, and dismissed it as "pure media speculation." Now, it appears that Trulli is done with Renault (he's off to Toyota, I believe, in 2005), and that Jacques Villeneuve is being fitted for a race seat and will test this week. If he performs even just competently, expect to see him in the R24 for the Chinese Grand Prix on 26 Sep.

Renault's line-up for 2005 is confirmed, so this isn't a prelude to a long term deal between JV and Renault. But it could be the springboard for JV landing a race seat elsewhere in 2005. If BAR lose Jensen Button, they'll need a driver, but I can't see JV going back there after they sacked him at the end of 2004. He probably also won't want to go to backmarker teams such as Jordan or Sauber or Minardi.

One interesting possibility is Jaguar, which has been totally underwhelming this season, but is rumoured to be rebranded as the Ford team for next year. I'd be willing to bet Ford would like to have one of only two F1 drivers recognizable to North American race fans, the other being Juan Pablo Montoya, moving from Williams to McLaren next year.

I know F1 would like to have more of a North American presence, and there has always been talk of a North American-based team with North American-based drivers. You can't get a better start on that than Ford + JV.

UPDATE (Sep 15 2004, 12:00PM): Jacques Villeneuve has signed to drive for Sauber for 2005! Could this be a calculated attempt to land Michael Schumacher's Ferrari seat after his contract expires in 2006?

Also, it would appear that Jaguar will not be re-branded as a Ford factory team next year. Instead, they are looking to Ford for a budget increase to allow them to be more competitive with the front runners.

UPDATE 2 (Sep 17 2004, 11:00AM): Well, Jaguar is no more. Ford is pulling the plug on the Jag F1 team (see bottom of press release) as it seeks to shore up the flagging Jaguar brand. So much for the hope of Ford's involvement in getting an American-based F1 team up and running. I have to say I'm pretty disappointed by this action. Ford is undoubtedly the US' most admired racing marque, and to see them pull out of F1 (as well as cut its sponsorship to Cosworth) is depressing to see.