Autoblog

They often use the term "F1 circus" euphemistically, but sometimes there's just no other word to describe some of the ridiculous things that go on at the pinnacle of motor racing. In this week's episode, we have news that former Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan has placed concrete blocks to barricade the access road leading to the headquarters of the Force India F1 team.

Jordan founded the team under his own name in 1991 and sold it to Midland in 2005, which in turn sold it to Spyker in 2006, who then sold the team to Force at the end of last season. Yet despite having been promoted at times as Russia's team, Holland's team and now as India's team, the actual headquarters has never moved from its location at the Silverstone race track in England. When Eddie Jordan sold off the team, he held on to some of the surrounding land through which the main access road leads. Jordan, who would now like to sell the land to the team but is claiming that Force India's management has refused to even discuss the matter, took things into his own hands recently and closed off the driveway. Just watch, they'll discover that the cinder-blocks he used were probably stolen from McLaren.

[Source: Autosport, Photo by Clive Mason/Getty]

Super Aguri undergoing testing at Jerez

Well that didn't take long. After only two years on the grid, Super Aguri is up for sale. Unlike most of the other "new" teams that took over and rebranded themselves from previous teams, Super Aguri actually put up the bond to join the 2006 Formula One championship as an additional entry. Since then, however, the team has had difficulty putting together the enormous budget required of a modern F1 team, falling into debt to the tune of $47 million, despite getting support from Honda and running old cars.

Now, following the emergence of Force India and the confirmation of an Indian Grand Prix in two years, another Indian business consortium is looking at buying its way into the sport. The Spice Group telecommunications company, which already sponsors Indian former F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan's Team India A1GP car, is reported to be negotiating to acquire Super Aguri. Tata, which is inching closer to its acquisition of Land Rover and Jaguar (which itself once had its own F1 team), is reported to be possibly supporting the bid. The price: $1, plus the coverage of the team's debts. The deal hasn't been finalized, but would involve bringing Karthikeyan back to the grid, and leaving Aguri Suzuki in charge. Spice confirms that it is talking with Aguri and a second team. In related news, Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz has reiterated that Scuderia Toro Rosso is not for sale.

[Source: F1-Live, Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty]

With the majority of F1 teams gearing up to unveil their new cars, all but two have confirmed their drivers for the upcoming season. The only seats still up for grabs are with Force India and Super Aguri, and while the former was expected to confirm its drivers before the end of the year, that date has now been pushed off until January 11.

Adrian Sutil is all but completely confirmed to take one of the seats at the team formerly known as Spyker and before that as Jordan since its founding in 1991. But a number of drivers remain hopeful to take the second seat, including Renault refugee Giancarlo Fisichella, former Toro Rosso driver Vitantonio Liuzzi, former Jaguar/Red Bull/Honda pilot Christian Klien and Roldán Rodríguez, currently slated as Force India's test driver. Veteran racer Ralf Schumacher, as we previously reported, tested for the seat, but previous reports that the German driver would have to sit out the 2008 season have now been confirmed.

Once Force India confirms its drivers in two weeks, only Super Aguri, recently confirmed by Honda for another season, will be left to announce its roster. Takuma Sato is expected to take one seat and the second remains a wild card likely to be contested by whoever doesn't get the second Force India seat.

Follow the jump to view the confirmed drivers for the 2008 Formula One World Championship.

[Source: F1-Live, Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty]