Villeneuve says no to $50 million CART offer.

Former F1 and CART world champion Jacques Villeneuve has reportedly said no to a $50 million offer to return to the CART series for the 2003 championship before returning to BAR for 2004-5.

Following rumours that keep resurfacing about a return to CART for the Canadian star, reports from Reuters draw attention to comments made by CART team owner Gerry Forsythe as reported in the Le Journal de Montreal newspaper.

Outlining a three year $50 million deal where the Canadian star would race a Players liveried car in the CART championship next year, before returning to a seat at BAR for 2004 and 2005, the paper quotes Forsythe as saying Villeneuve and manager Jacques Pollock wanted more money for the move.

"Unfortunately, Pollock wanted even more money," Forsythe is quoted. "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."

Win races is something the Canadian is almost certain not to do in 2003 in Formula One so why not accept the offer? Formula One is not in the greatest shape it has been with teams dropping out or on the brink of departure and Ferrari having a strong hold on the victories this year, and in all likelihood, next year as well.

However, though Formula One is currently in a state of change with the disappearance of Prost at the beginning of this season and the current worries of Arrows and others, the American focused CART series has seen more than a few worries of its own in the last few seasons with more and more teams and drivers jumping ship to the oval only IRL series. The perceived lack of strength and status of the series relative to when Villeneuve was champion could have some bearing on the Canadian's decision.

Villeneuve had previously gone on record as saying that he would only consider going to the US if there was a golden offer on the table. The current offer would match his pay if he stayed in Formula One for the year so offers no material benefit for 2003. However, if the offer does include a guaranteed race seat at BAR for 2004 and 2005, then Gerry Forsythe is making a very valid point when says "Their demands were too high. I'm not sure he will receive the same kind of offer from an F1 team at the end of his contract in 2003." As he is quoted from the same source on BBC online.

David Richards is known to be keen to find a way of releasing more funds for development of the car, and there's no way that the BAR 005 will be a championship contender next year, even with its sole Honda engined status and any advantage that brings with chassis and engine synthesis.

The amount Pollock is believed to be asking for is $57 million. If matter of $7 million over three years can be resovled it might be yet that Villeneuve makes a CART return next year. Olivier Panis will certainly be hoping so, as Villeneuve remaining in F1 will leave the Frenchman without a race seat, and race seats in Formula One at the moment are a pretty scarce resource.