http://www.b92.net/sport/intervjui/inte ... _id=427900
Possibility of Stefan Gp entrance in F1 was mentioned as early as 1996?
Actually, story goes futher back in the past. In 1987 i had talks with Bernie to host a Yugoslav Grand Prix ( in Grobnik circuit, that hosted Yugoslav Moto GP from 78 to 90). But it was soon evident that political situation was turbulent and these plans folded. ( soon war erupted, in 1991, and Yugoslavia fell apart, but it was a sudden one, and in 1987 maybe top five people in the world, like Pope and stuff knew that will happen, so this is a major bulls**t as Hunt would said
)So, after that, we decided to form a team. This was joint Serbian - Brittish project. We made a core for organization and started looking for drivers. I've noticed one young Brittish driver in formula 3 and arranged a meeting with him, in 1988. We sat in office in London, and he asked me, why do i believe that he's a f1 caliber. I said to him : "I watched you in Brands Hatch, in Silverstone. In Truxton you were the only one completely focused before the start." There were some other drivers around that day, like Martin Donelly, but i thought this kid was better than all of them, man on a mission, completely focused, and i saw that. His name was Damon Hill.
But, that attempt was futile too, and i waited until 1996 to have another shot. This time, intention was to create team based in England, that would race under Brittish flag. We secured more than enough money when our main sponsor, who held 2/3 of budget withdrew. That time i also found one quick young driver in Brittish formula 3. He was very quick, but had problems with spining outs and stuff like that, he was chasing too much. But he had talent. I called him, he came to meeting with his mom and dad, in a beaten Ford Fiesta. Unfortunately, we were left without funds, and they were from a country that couldn't back up drivers at the time so this project folded too. This kid name was Huan Pablo Montoya. ( he's really speaking in this tense, cliffhanger manner in interview too
)Then he mentiones possible Lola purchase, but rejects that he had intentions of involving in that story.
Let's talk about modern Stefan GP efforts to enter F1
This is really long part, i will translate most interesting.
After we filed a suit to European Anti Monopol commision, i called Bernie and said : " Look, we did sue, but let's find some reasonable solution for all sides." Bernie said : " Nevermind that, you guys just organize, i think you should be in."
Kazuki was my very, very dear choice. He is massively underrated driver. While he was in Williams, every piece of new material first got into Rosberg hands and later in Kazuki's. Kazuki prepared car for Nico. Nico is a good driver, but Kazuki proved to be better when it comes to building and setting up car.
Biggest opponent of our entry in F1 was Williams, altough i'm good friends with Frank. Frank said, "it's business"
I hosted Adrian Campos in Belgrade. He asked 40 million dolars for Campos application and package. I laughed. He came three more times, price was droping but not enough to be reasonable to pay. People from USF1 persisted on maintaining false picture that they can pull it on their own and did not wanted to agree to a reasonable merger.
I had long talks with Ralph Schumacher and general agreement with Villeneuve. Also in frame was Klien. I also had plans for Karthikeyan and Chandhok. I have extremely positive opinion about Karthikeyan. He's a very good driver, but massively underrated and i believe it is mainly on racial basis.
