Jaques Villeneuve wants to return to F1...

[Ingram]

Oh dear. Who does this clown think he is?

Jaques Villeneuve, a driver who was past his best at least four years ago, thinks he deserves a drive in F1, now that there are an extra three teams on the grid.

He claims that there will be an increased demand for experienced drivers, after the removal of driver aids and a vast reduction in testing time. Fair enough, but the teams are perhaps also looking for someone who isn't a whinging, overrated, and almost inevitably over-paid smug *add insult here*.

There are so many drivers who are more deserving of a drive next year, Anthony Davidson would be the first who springs to mind. Or if a team wants vast experience, how about Wurz or De La Rosa?

Considering the fact that he is thirty-eight years old, how many seasons does he think he can squeeze in? One? Why would anybody want him for a single season? They might as well employ somebody younger who would gain experience in that year. Maybe he could be a backup driver, but, and this is just a wild stab in the dark, he would be too proud an arrogant to do so.

This may come as a shock to everyone... but I'm not his biggest fan. Even so, if i did like him, I wouldn't see any other reason for him to return but to massage his ego.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I think he has a better chance of his music career becoming successful than he does at getting a second shot at F1.

 

[Peter]

He wasn't that bad, he may be old, but anyone can be better than Piquet. And i hope for Bruno Senna to make it into F1 as well.

 

[mafia_boy]

Just go poach from the IRL, nearly their whole field is better than Villeneuve. I'd personally pick Marco Andretti, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe and maybe Dan Wheldon.

I'd say add Castro-Neves aswell but he was in F1 years ago like Villeneuve wasn't he?? If not, then add him to the list. 👍

 

[prisonermonkeys]

"Jacques? It's Dave Richards. Listen, we want you to drive for us. No, I know Prodrive didn't make the gird. We're the fourth reserve team; if Renault, Toyota, BMW and somebody else leave, we're in. A race seat, you say? Not quite, I'm afraid. Test driving? Well, I suppose you can call it that. You'll be doing about the same amount of work as a test driver with the in-season ban. Listen to me, Jacques. You want in, I'm giving you a chance to get in. Take it or leave it, it's your choice. We want you to drive the motorhome. What? Yes, I suppose you can listen to your CDs on the stereo ..."

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Just go poach from the IRL, nearly their whole field is better than Villeneuve. I'd personally pick Marco Andretti, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe and maybe Dan Wheldon.

I'd say add Castro-Neves aswell but he was in F1 years ago like Villeneuve wasn't he?? If not, then add him to the list. 👍

That's about as damning as you can be. None of those guys could hold a candle to any of the top ten F1 drivers. Still, at least you didn't suggest Danica Patrick!

I agree wholeheartedly though: there's simply no way Villeneuve should be allowed back into F1.

 

[lucag120]

i don't know why you guys are saying he can't return. Even though i don't like him because he was schumacher's rival; but if he tests the car and he's quickest, why shouldn't he have a race seat for 2010???? He's got as good a shot as anyone but their driving must do the talking.

 

[Tired Tyres]

All right he wasn't the greatest ever but you are all doing Villeneuve a disservice. He won a Champ car championship against proper opposition, put his Williams on pole position in his first Grand Prix, gave Hill a run for his money in his debut season and then beat Schumacher to the championship in what, over the course of the season, was an equal car.

Sure he's probably past it by now and his years at BAR did him no favours but that's no reason to disrespect what he did achieve.

 

[TheCracker]

I see Chris is lerking here. As someone who has raced against Villeneuve, do you think he could still be good enough?

 

[Christhedude]

Jaques Villeneuve was my team mate for the first 3 races of the Speedcar season, until he quit, because i kept being faster then him.(that what my engineer told me, he didnt like the fact that he was slower then a 20 year old)
Anyways, as a person, he is a real great guy. Loved hanging out with him and he always told me some awesome stories of the F1 days.
As for sure i'd love to see him back in a F1, its better for his image if he doesnt go back.

I could tell you stories about him at the speedcar races, but obviously i cant share them here, but just believe me, he is a great guy in person!

Chris 👍

EDIT//

I see Chris is lerking here. As someone who has raced against Villeneuve, do you think he could still be good enough?

haha, just saw your post now

 

[Ardius]

i don't know why you guys are saying he can't return. Even though i don't like him because he was schumacher's rival; but if he tests the car and he's quickest, why shouldn't he have a race seat for 2010???? He's got as good a shot as anyone but their driving must do the talking.

Indeed, but where is the evidence of being a quick driver over the last 10 years?

All right he wasn't the greatest ever but you are all doing Villeneuve a disservice. He won a Champ car championship against proper opposition, put his Williams on pole position in his first Grand Prix, gave Hill a run for his money in his debut season and then beat Schumacher to the championship in what, over the course of the season, was an equal car.

Sure he's probably past it by now and his years at BAR did him no favours but that's no reason to disrespect what he did achieve.

More like he almost lost a championship in a dominant car, the Ferrari was no where near as dominant as the the Williams that year, Jacques made it harder than it should have been.

Also, all of that was over 10 years ago now.....where is the proof he can reproduce the same results today?

I have no problem with him coming back but I don't expect much of him, he isn't going to stay more than a season either as he hasn't got on well with any F1 team, any team that hires him is probably doing it for his experience only and I expect only the new teams to hire him. BMW Sauber are certainly not going to be hiring his services

 

[Tired Tyres]

Indeed, but where is the evidence of being a quick driver over the last 10 years?



More like he almost lost a championship in a dominant car, the Ferrari was no where near as dominant as the the Williams that year, Jacques made it harder than it should have been.

Also, all of that was over 10 years ago now.....where is the proof he can reproduce the same results today?

I have no problem with him coming back but I don't expect much of him, he isn't going to stay more than a season either as he hasn't got on well with any F1 team, any team that hires him is probably doing it for his experience only and I expect only the new teams to hire him. BMW Sauber are certainly not going to be hiring his services

Schumacher had a car that was good enough for him to challenge for the Title that year. How many other drivers have beaten him in the same circumstance? Alonso and Hakkinen. That's not a bad list of drivers to be included in.

I don't think he'd stand a chance coming back now, but that doesn't change the fact that he was a World Champion them.

It's the lack of respect he gets that bothers me even though quite a bit of it is self inflicted.

 

[Ardius]

The lack of respect comes from the fact he never proved himself out of a dominant car, and he made a mess of that in the first place! It also comes from his bad reputation with teams as well, he fell out with a team that was built all for him! You can't get worse than that.

 

[Pupik]

i don't know why you guys are saying he can't return. Even though i don't like him because he was schumacher's rival; but if he tests the car and he's quickest, why shouldn't he have a race seat for 2010???? He's got as good a shot as anyone but their driving must do the talking.

Exactly.

Stop bagging the guy before he's turned a wheel: F1 has three past/present world champs currently racing one another. Only one has beaten Michael Schumacher; all the others are retired. There ought to be a clause in his contract though; he gets paid on performance and on a race-to-race basis. No I-don't-care BS will be accepted.

The thing is, I don't see any teams willing to do so in the current state of F1, when there is a fresh batch of talent out there every year, of which only one or two drivers get to "graduate" from GP2/F3000 each season; one's typically a pay-driver, the other brings talent.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Exactly.

Stop bagging the guy before he's turned a wheel: F1 has three past/present world champs currently racing one another. Only one has beaten Michael Schumacher; all the others are retired. There ought to be a clause in his contract though; he gets paid on performance and on a race-to-race basis. No I-don't-care BS will be accepted.

The thing is, I don't see any teams willing to do so in the current state of F1, when there is a fresh batch of talent out there every year, of which only one or two drivers get to "graduate" from GP2/F3000 each season; one's typically a pay-driver, the other brings talent.

I hardly think you can claim he hasn't "turned a wheel". Yes, he put it on pole in his debut race, but only after completing 3,300Km in testing (that'll be 11x grand prix distance).

However, after he failed to beat Damon Hill in his debut year (let's not get misty eyed about Damon Hill, he was distinctly average), Villeneuve then made a meal of taking the still-dominant Williams to the 97 championship. After this, he and Craig Pollock systematically destroyed the Tyrrell organisation, being pointless in every sense. Further wilderness years followed, where he succeeded only in extracting large wedges of cash from teams for little in the way of results. His final outings for Renault were little more than an embarrassment.

Subsequent to that, he's shown himself to be a moderately useful sportscar driver, but I think his abject failure in NASCAR says much about him. How an ex-F1, ex-CART champion with the name Villeneuve could not get NASCAR sponsorship is extraordinary.

So in his prime, he was no better than pretty good, but when he won the world championship he really started to believe he was the mutt's nuts. When clearly he wasn't. Age will not have reversed this.

I think that F1 teams would be right to avoid him like the plague. There are plenty of drivers out there with more talent, more youth, and much more team-focussed attitudes. Villeneuve's return to F1 would inevitably be detrimental to the organisation that hired him.

 

[TheCracker]

I think Sébastien Bourdais's F1 career has shown that like Villeneuve, you can totally dominate in other top-flight single seater championships (CART/Champcars) yet be very average when you get to F1. The Williams car that Villeneuve drove was so much better than anything else on the grid at the time that it totally flattered his abilities.

 

[mafia_boy]

That's about as damning as you can be. None of those guys could hold a candle to any of the top ten F1 drivers. Still, at least you didn't suggest Danica Patrick!

I agree wholeheartedly though: there's simply no way Villeneuve should be allowed back into F1.

Sorry, it was the first thing that came to mind. There are plenty of brilliant drivers coming up in F3, not to mention the current F1 test drivers who could slot in, but yeah....call it a brain fart GG.

As for Danica, I'll shut it right about now because I could get into even more trouble.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I agree wholeheartedly though: there's simply no way Villeneuve should be allowed back into F1.

Just think if he was tasked with entertaining the crowd ... it'd be like Cliff Richards at Wimbledon.

 

[yeti]

Just think if he was tasked with entertaining the crowd ... it'd be like Cliff Richards at Wimbledon.

Except that Cliff never really played Tennis?!?

C.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Except that Cliff never really played Tennis?!?

No, he sang.

 

[yeti]

No, he sang.

Is that what you call it?!

C.

 

[KSaiyu]

Martin Brundle put it best on one of his gridwalks, can't remember which race it was though

 

[Omnis]

Jaques Villeneuve was my team mate for the first 3 races of the Speedcar season, until he quit, because i kept being faster then him.(that what my engineer told me, he didnt like the fact that he was slower then a 20 year old)
Anyways, as a person, he is a real great guy. Loved hanging out with him and he always told me some awesome stories of the F1 days.
As for sure i'd love to see him back in a F1, its better for his image if he doesnt go back.

I could tell you stories about him at the speedcar races, but obviously i cant share them here, but just believe me, he is a great guy in person!

Chris 👍

EDIT//
haha, just saw your post now

I'd rather see you in a F1 car.

 

[darkfinal]

Jaques Villeneuve was my team mate for the first 3 races of the Speedcar season, until he quit, because i kept being faster then him.(that what my engineer told me, he didnt like the fact that he was slower then a 20 year old)
Anyways, as a person, he is a real great guy. Loved hanging out with him and he always told me some awesome stories of the F1 days.
As for sure i'd love to see him back in a F1, its better for his image if he doesnt go back.

I could tell you stories about him at the speedcar races, but obviously i cant share them here, but just believe me, he is a great guy in person!

I don't care how much you've raced. I'm not jealous.



....









........







Who am I lying to. I'm jealous as hell.


BTW, it only takes a minute of wikipedia browsing to find your name, and then your profile. Consider your privacy violated by the Internets.

 

[yeti]

Indeed - and your own site lists your achievements...

We are not worthy.

C.

PS - and god knows how you pronounce your surname!!

 

[mipuumal]

I hardly think you can claim he hasn't "turned a wheel". Yes, he put it on pole in his debut race, but only after completing 3,300Km in testing (that'll be 11x grand prix distance).

3300 kilometers is nothing really, looking at the winter testing lapcounts, 3300km averages to about 5-6 test days.

And since there weren't harsh testing limits back then, I would've thought every drivers would've done at least 10 times that amount of pre-season testing.

However, after he failed to beat Damon Hill in his debut year (let's not get misty eyed about Damon Hill, he was distinctly average)

Btw, I don't mean to go off-topic, but I just can't help but notice the similarities between Damon and Jenson .

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I just can't help but notice the similarities between Damon and Jenson .

When Hamilton began having success straight off the bat, it was Martin Brundle who said "Damon Hill has become the new Jackie Stewart, Jenson Button has become Damon Hill and Lewis Hamilton is the new Jenson Button". I'm guessing that the 2009 Jenson Button has beocme the new Lewis Hamilton.

 

[Peter]

Maybe he will use his history as a drivers champion and the fact that he's the son of another great f1 driver, to intimidate the new teams and force them to take him.

 

[homeforsummer]

When Hamilton began having success straight off the bat, it was Martin Brundle who said "Damon Hill has become the new Jackie Stewart, Jenson Button has become Damon Hill and Lewis Hamilton is the new Jenson Button". I'm guessing that the 2009 Jenson Button has beocme the new Lewis Hamilton.

Does that mean Jenson Button is the new Jenson Button?

Anyway, Damon Hill was the new Nigel Mansell.

Damon was a lot better than people gave him credit for. 1994 would have been in the bag but for the "incident", and he could even have won the championship in his first full year in 1993 if you take into account the number of times his car expired or he was given team orders to move over whilst in the lead (two retirements while leading and twice having to move over for Prost, if I remember correctly). Would people think differently of Damon if he had three world titles?

And let's not forget he almost won in the Arrows in 1997, after having passed Michael on the track.

Regarding Villeneuve, he's a waste of space. If he'd had the humility to not think he was still the dog's danglies even when he was being absolutely shockingly useless, then he might get a bit more respect. But 1997 aside he proved himself absolutely incapable of putting in anything other than a distinctly average performance.

 

[Peter]

I hate that you all hate Villeneuve because he sucked on th track. Who knows, maybe he got better, or maybe someone might make a big mistake. We haven't seen him in an F1 car in years so how will we know.