Jacques Villeneuve

[Nicky]

Jacques made a poor choice after his championship win by choosing to stay with BAR, then proceeded to shoot himself in the foot just when BAR started to get respectable. I think his best years are behind him, but he deserves a shot to prove he can still perform. In my opinion, he has always been a bit of a whiner, though.

 

[Blake]

I tell you what's really beautiful, the fact that he was kicked out of testing after a day because his lap times were too inconsistant to get any useful data from! So Massa had to come in a day early and take over JVs testing

I love it!

Blake

 

[liam2maps]

Several things. Top CART drivers are no longer regarded as possible F1 drivers. Bourdias wanted a test with Williams and Even Renault. I doubt he ever got one. Let's look at Da Matta, he's back there now after his stint with Toyota and he didn't do so badly. He didn't perform greatly but he did okay.

I don't hate JV but I ain't a fan of him either. Since leaving Williams he hasn't had the best of it. I think that JV has done at least one positive thing. He helped Honda out even though he wasn't there in the end. He shaped the early part of BAR in which they came 2nd last season.

Massa has beaten JV consistently this season, but more importantly Sauber aren't even in the points at all. Their cars don't seem to be doing so well. Possibly due to Red Bull's sponsorship being placed elsewhere they no longer have the funds they once did. Red Bull, Petronas and Credit Suisse were the backbone of Sauber.

I think there is talent in JV but he needs to adjust to the everchanging world of F1. This prooves a driver is ALWAYS playing catch up. Personally if I was Peter Sauber I'd ask JV to step down if he didn't score any points before the middle of the season and possibly poach Klien or Luizzi or maybe even Wurz or Davidson. It's very hard to bring a driver back to the F1 wilderness.

Personally I compare it to playing 2 different games, one a racing game another a long and lengthy RPG. You play the racing game well and then switch games to play the lengthy RPG. After say a long couple of months with the RPG you switch back to the racing game and you find it hard to match lap times you did and you ask yourself what's wrong.

 

[Blake]

Bourdais was going to be driving for Arrows (a contract was signed and everything) except they went bankrupt, so he was almost in F1, but it didn't work out. Da Matta was in a team that wanted results and Da Matta wasn't delivering them, so he was booted.

I think it's just a few bad Champ Car drivers that have given the series a someone bad reputation in the eyes of F1 teams.

Blake

 

[786]

Sauber says the relationship between the team and Villeneuve is "currently at a difficult point" so it looks like JV is walking a thin line at this point...and ya as someone said his times were so slow and inconsistent in testing that the engineers couldnt figure out if it was the car or JV, so massa was called in and posted the 3rd fastest time behind the two Mclarens...on the previous day JV ran 74 laps and posted a best time of 1:18.096 which put him in last place (13th) whilst De La Rosa had the fastest time with a 1:14.391...

 

[liam2maps]

Sauber should poach either Wurz, Dela Rosa, Davison or a Luizzi/Klien. Althought Luizzi and Klien are on race contracts it would be harder.

 

[Carl.]

Sauber says the relationship between the team and Villeneuve is "currently at a difficult point" so it looks like JV is walking a thin line at this point...and ya as someone said his times were so slow and inconsistent in testing that the engineers couldnt figure out if it was the car or JV, so massa was called in and posted the 3rd fastest time behind the two Mclarens...on the previous day JV ran 74 laps and posted a best time of 1:18.096 which put him in last place (13th) whilst De La Rosa had the fastest time with a 1:14.391...

Ahem. You omitted a few things.

Sure Villeneuve was 13th at 3.7s from De La Rosa, but Massa was also 15th on thursday, at 3.4s from Button, and Friday got 3rd place in the rain, which frankly doesn't mean much.

The only thing Jacques did wrong this week is not trying to shut up for once, as Massa's thursday times just confirmed that the lack of pace is not a driver issue. His hasty public reaction made it all look like a farce, and clearly shown he hasn't learned yet what team work is.

Still, Sauber clearly needs to concentrate replace Red Bull and work on the car before having thoughts about finding supposedly better drivers...

 

[786]

well massa seems to claim saubers problems lie in the aero department and, as they have the best wind tunnel in F1, i find that a bit annoying...anyway no matter how much you like JV its starting to look more and more like his time in F1 is up...unless there is a dramatic improvement i dont see him in F1 for too much longer...also his attitude with the Sauber team seems to be degrading and that cant help either...i mean hell this may be Coulthards last year and he has done better than can be expected for RBR...

 

[zoxxy]

JV isn't a good driver.
The most important thing with a racing driver at this level is to keep cool, which he can't.
At the qualifies, he always pushes to hard, this resulting getting him low field.
Race is no exception.

 

[snypa]

JV deserves NO more excuses. He has had how many chances to succeed since 1997? He has never lived up to anything in 6+ years.

Even Canadian fan-boys of JV have to admit that.


In AU this year JV held up Alonso for 25 laps. There was no "fighting" with Alonso. It was JV acting as moving chicane. Notice once Alonso managed to get around him he left him in the dust....

I'm not trying to be harsh here...but my god how many cars has JV driven since 1997. How many excuses has he had why he isn't competitive? Every damn time he gets in a car there is an excuse. Oh the brakes. Oh the cockpit. Oh the aero. oh the engine. Oh the balance. For almost 8 YEARS. Come on. Enough is enough.

JV, like Paul Tracy for that matter, is so full of BS it isn't even funny. JV complains. Paul Tracy whines....

Thank god for Ron Fellows to give you Canadian motorsport fans something to cheer, and cheer rightfully, for.

I totally agree with you.

JV was a good driver. you never win a championship by accident, but it's also fair to say he was in the right place at the good moment (especially at the beginning of his carrier)
The main problem of JV is that he has a very very very high opinion about himself. He thought he could win in his own team (BAR) with his own manager (who was also the owner of the team). But money is not enough. You have to work hard. When problems start to occur, you have to work in order to resolve them, not just say " this car is a piece of ****".

Drdevil87, you say shumi wins because he's sitting in the ferrari, the best car of the field.....well that's right, but you seem to forget this car was a brick at the beginnings in 1996. Michael got what he worked (hard) for. JV would never have had the same succes, because after 6 month of hard time, he would just have put the mess around in the team. That's what he did with BAR.
Look at the 2003 season with Button. Before the 1st round he was already claiming that he would eat Button, and that a defeat would signify the end of his carrier. Well he has been beaten in each part of the duel. So, get out Jacques, you lost.
Now he's still there, and he's still behind his teammate. still trying to find excuses. JV just speaks too much. While Michael keeps focused, while Michael tries to not put to much pressure on his team when times are difficult. JV is negative. Michael is Positive. A champion is good in victory, but also in defeat. The difference is there between JV and Michael.

 

[MJW]

JV came back this year after F1 had made a big step.F1 became 2,5 seconds faster in 2004,and the overall laptimes now are 1 to 1,5 seconds slower compared to 2004.The F1 cars from this year have more power and less downforce than the cars from 2003 (when JV raced).Drivers need to get used to the cars after they had some time outside F1.Formula 1 develops much faster than we know.
Please think of his debute year.He finished second in the championship.How much drivers who are champion can say that they did the same?Not MS,no,he went bad compared to other seasons,because he didn`t raced in a great car.MS is champion now because he has a great car,same as the last few years.
Villeneuve had a great car in 1997,but how could MS keep up in the championship?He had a good car too.
He lost because of one of his *****y tricks!The same he did in 1994 with Hill in Australia.Jerez 1997 was one to pay him back.

I`m not shure if JV will finish this year in F1,but what I hope is that he could find an good place to win again.Champcar is a great place to be.Some teams really want him as they`re driver.

I prevere Champcar above F1.F1 is to political.Bernie follows Ferrari in every step he takes.If he doesn`t he will get Ferrari at his door,saying : "If you make that rule,we will step out of F1!" It happend before.
F1 must be more like other race classes.

 

[U2fanman]

Villeneuve's excuse for why he's out of touch with the pace of F1 nowadays 'the cars are controlled by computers and not the driver any more; I feel like a passenger' just shows that he does not have what it takes in the high tech world of F1 to be competitive any more. He might've been in his element in 1996-7 when there was more emphasis on driver input.

 

[MJW]

When a driver feels like a passenger,he will not drive well.A driver must feel right in his car.That`s the best way to get faster.Sauber wanted Villeneuve to help them develop the car,but he can`t,because he just doesn`t feel right.

I allways wanted F1 to be free fro traction controle,launch controle and other things that makes te driving easier.A racing car has to be set up for the race to get to the finish.Now they have computers that can save a engine,and drivers can set the differential when they are driving.Something is wrong with this,I think.
I`m shure that those "rookie" drivers will make more mistakes when the cars don`t have those controle computers onboard.I even think that Kimi Raikkonen,Takuma Sato,Jenson Button,Fellipe Massa and Christian Klien would have trouble with the handeling of the car when they don`t catch the faults that the drivers make.

All I want to say is; F1 needs no elektronoc computers to make the sport a "easy" drive.Let the good drivers come into F1.Let them show what they can.

 

[Blake]

Don't get the impression that driving an F1 car is easy, computers don't control everything, and they do not 'fix' a drivers mistakes. If a driver stuffs up he will be the one who has to 'catch' the car, computers can't do that.

Also I don't really believe a word that JV says, first it was the cars brakes, then the aero, now he can't drive a car with gizmo's. C'mon JV, stop making excuses and accept that YOU are the problem.

Blake

 

[snypa]

David coulthard and Michael Schumacher started F1 before JV. They drove in a totally different period, like JV. They don't seem to have any kinf of problems with the new technology or new rules. So Jv's excuse is not valid for me.

 

[MJW]

Don't get the impression that driving an F1 car is easy, computers don't control everything, and they do not 'fix' a drivers mistakes. If a driver stuffs up he will be the one who has to 'catch' the car, computers can't do that.

Also I don't really believe a word that JV says, first it was the cars brakes, then the aero, now he can't drive a car with gizmo's. C'mon JV, stop making excuses and accept that YOU are the problem.

Blake

I`m shure when you compare the F1 cars from the 80`s and 70`s to modern F1,that the modern F1 is easy.
But I didn`t say it`s easy,I said It`s "easy".Like it could be much more difficult.

It`s true that JV is making excuses.But it`s all about image and money in F1.If someone believes him,he could get a better place within or outside F1.But c`mon,allmost all F1 drivers say it`s the fault of the car when they make a fault.But it`s important that they don`t believe themself when saying that.

 

[Blake]

I`m shure when you compare the F1 cars from the 80`s and 70`s to modern F1,that the modern F1 is easy.

That depends, modern cars place alot more stress on the body, you don't have to worry about using a clutch (except at the starts) and gears are changed with the flick of a paddle, nor do you have to be too careful about throttle application as the cars have traction control. However, now you have to deal with high G-forces, you have to keep mindful of tires as you can't change them if you flat spot a tire (unless it is deemed particularly dangerous), you have to manage the revs, you have to manage brake-balance etc.

The cars are from completely different eras, the cars require different skills than they used to, it may be easier, it may be harder, it depends what you're good at and what feels comfortable.

Blake

 

[786]

the biggest difference is the stresses on the body...the G loading is much higher than cars from earlier eras...other than that it isnt that hard to drive...if you have the proper "driving" muscles in good shape anyone can drive an F1 car...as long as you have the skill of course

 

[MJW]

That`s right,Blake.I thought that the old cars are much more difficult to drive,because of less aero and mechanical grip,so the throttling must be more carefull.
In the old days we saw F1 drivers smoking (Keke Rosberg).Now F1 drivers are in top shape.If they aren`t,they will lose consentration (Tiago Monteiro in Melbourne this year).
But this is what I like.If you compare these era`s,it looks like a all different sport,but it`s just become like modern F1 by new technology and rule changes.

 

[kenton]

anyone know if villenueve ever thanked mclaren for running the strategy to help him win the wdc?

 

[Carl.]

anyone know if villenueve ever thanked mclaren for running the strategy to help him win the wdc?

He actually gave them the race...