The FIA is currently looking at the various dossiers of the teams that want to become the 13th Formula 1 franchise-holder. Some of those in the running seem to be making a lot of noise in the hope that this will add to their credibility. The team that is leaking out the most information at the moment is Durango Corse, which has some kind of alliance – as yet unclear – with Jacques Villeneuve.

The latest rumours suggest that money could be coming for the Italian team from one of the sons of Colonel Gaddafi, the eccentric 68-year-old ruler of Libya. Al Saadi Gaddafi was recently ordered to pay $507,000, plus legal costs, to the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Rapallo, Italy, where he stayed in 2008 while hoping to be signed by the Sampdoria soccer club. Gaddafi Jr and his retinue – consisting of a personal secretary, waiters, bodyguards, a personal trainer, a driver, and a dog handler – used a luxury suite and a number of bedrooms in the hotel. He also hosted a number of parties and receptions at the hotel. He departed for Cannes leaving the Libyan Embassy in Rome to pay the bill. The diplomats declined to do so because they had received no such instruction.

There is no doubt that a member of the Gaddafi family could probably find the money to invest in an F1 team. The Libyan economy depends primarily upon revenues from the oil sector.