From F1live.com
According to reports in the Canadian press, British American Racing driver, Jacques Villeneuve has turned down a very lucrative deal to return to the predominately US based CART series. The Canadian racer made his way across to Formula One in 1996 after a successful career in the states winning the CART crown in 1995 and the Indianapolis 500. Competing for Williams, Jacques won the F1 crown in his second year of competition after almost snatching victory away from Damon Hill in 1996. However since then results have been few and far between.
According to Le Journal Montreal' Villeneuve was offered a staggering US$50 million to return to the Players Forsythe Team, however the report claims that while Jacques seriously considered the move together with manager and close friend Craig Pollock, he turned down the staggering offer claiming he wanted even more!
The report states that the deal, organized between Players and BAR, would have seen him compete in CART for the final season under British American Tobacco's sponsorship before anti tobacco legislation came into play at the end of 2003. After that the driver would return to F1 and his current BAR team for 04 and 05. The deal was said to be part of BAT's plan to go all out in their final year in the series but apparently just wasn't good enough to make him leave the pinnacle of Motorsports, even for a season where he is reported to be earning 19 million per year (times three equals 57 million, 7 million more than their offer) if he stays with BAR on the same salary until the end of 2005.
According to reports in the Canadian press, British American Racing driver, Jacques Villeneuve has turned down a very lucrative deal to return to the predominately US based CART series. The Canadian racer made his way across to Formula One in 1996 after a successful career in the states winning the CART crown in 1995 and the Indianapolis 500. Competing for Williams, Jacques won the F1 crown in his second year of competition after almost snatching victory away from Damon Hill in 1996. However since then results have been few and far between.
According to Le Journal Montreal' Villeneuve was offered a staggering US$50 million to return to the Players Forsythe Team, however the report claims that while Jacques seriously considered the move together with manager and close friend Craig Pollock, he turned down the staggering offer claiming he wanted even more!
The report states that the deal, organized between Players and BAR, would have seen him compete in CART for the final season under British American Tobacco's sponsorship before anti tobacco legislation came into play at the end of 2003. After that the driver would return to F1 and his current BAR team for 04 and 05. The deal was said to be part of BAT's plan to go all out in their final year in the series but apparently just wasn't good enough to make him leave the pinnacle of Motorsports, even for a season where he is reported to be earning 19 million per year (times three equals 57 million, 7 million more than their offer) if he stays with BAR on the same salary until the end of 2005.
