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Villeneuve set for Lotus

Image: Villeneuve: Poised to return

Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve looks set to return to F1 - with Lotus expected to announce their line-up next week.

Former world champion in negotiations to return

Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve looks set to return to Formula One - with the new Lotus team expected to announce their line-up next week. The 38-year-old, who won the drivers' championship in 1997 for Williams, has not raced in F1 since 2006. However he enlisted the services of his former trainer Dr Erwin Gollner in a bid to get himself back into shape with what the Canadian describes as a "really, really brutal" fitness regime. And although Villeneuve has claimed the discussions with Lotus are "still preliminary" he has claimed that he wouldn't "come to suffer, in a retreat, leaving my two sons far away, if I didn't believe things are moving along well". Lotus are set to name their team for the 2010 season in the immediate future, with chief executive officer Riad Asmat telling The Star: "We will name two drivers and a reserve. Negotiations are still going on."

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