Danica Patrick flattered by F1 reports

UPDATE Indy Racing League driver Danica Patrick has done an about face. Just a few days after telling everyone how happy she is in the IRL, she now says she’d consider jumping to Formula One. Patrick has been targeted as one of four possible drivers for a new U.S.-based F1 team that was launched today.

02/19/09

Danica never won an Atlantic or IndyCar road course. Is she ready for Formula 1?

(GMM) Female IndyCar driver Danica Patrick admits she is flattered by the reports linking her with formula one, but on Thursday she said chiefs of the prospective USF1 team have not yet contacted her.

But the 26-year-old American, earmarked this week for a F1 test by USF1 principal Ken Anderson, also told the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail that she might not even be interested in travelling to Europe to contest the famous world championship.

She said she had read the reports linking her with USF1 for 2010 but "there weren't any quotes from me because they haven't spoken to me".

"It's very flattering," Patrick added. "I think that any time you are in the same sentence as formula one, it's a flattering thing."

The reports, however, have already been met with cynicism in Europe, with one blog by Telegraph writer Andrew Baker – entitled 'Does F1 need a swimsuit model?' – predicting Patrick would only be a "lure to commercial sponsors".

Patrick, who as a teenager contested some junior open-wheel series in England, said she is happy to now race full-time in her native US.

"I haven't really expressed a lot of excitement and interest in world travel," she said on Thursday in Toronto.

"We'll see what they (USF1) say though. Maybe they'll call."