Truth be told, when I started watching F1 in 1995 I fell in love with Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve. Hill won the championship that year followed by Jacques in 1996. It looked like Villeneuve was set for even bigger things, but something went wrong on the way to paradise when he decided to help build BAR.
Oops – big mistake. One that took Villeneuve right out of F1 prior to the last race of the 1993 season. Now Villeneuve is back at the expense of Trulli, testing for Renault, hoping to land a contract for the remainder of the year.
Yesterday, in his first test back in F1, Villeneuve pulled in the slowest time at Silverstone, a full 1.6 seconds off the pace set by McLaren and Raikkonen. Scary, sad. Today Villeneuve managed the 3rd fast time, a mere 0.036 behind Sato’s BAR first place pace. Very nice.
Making matters more interesting, Villeneuve has a chance to knock BAR in the ass if he can help Renault catapult in front of his former team. That would indeed be sweet redemption for Jacques, plus he gets back in racing shape as he prepares to join Sauber next year for a two year contract.
I am not sure if Villeneuve call pull Sauber to the front, but let’s face it, Sauber is the minor league Ferrari team. They have good parts, and a decent setup. Running last year’s spec Ferrari parts is nothing to sneeze at – this could be a great situation for Sauber and Jacques should be able to squeeze nice things out of the car. Say what you will about Jacques, but no one has ever doubted his talent.
“Welcome back to the show Jacques!” F1 just got interesting again, and if you happen to beat BAR a few times in the process, so much the better!
JC, JV’s time yesterday was the fastest lap of Sliverstone by any Renault driver this year. No idea how much fuel he was carrying at the time but it’s a safe assumption that he isn’t the only Renault driver to have driven Sliverstone on low fuel this season.
Isn’t it nice to see another driver who doesn’t view money as his motivation? Schuey M drives for pleasure – the $40 million he rakes in every year is just a bonus. Jacques offered himself to teams for $1 million basic plus $30,000 per point scored – it’s still more than many will earn in a lifetime but there are few other drivers who would willingly accept an offer far below their market value.
Welcome back, Jacques.
Cheers,
Adam
Adam – nice point about Jacques doing this for the love of the sport. Sure, it is a lot of money, but he is a driver first and a fun one to watch!
I hope he shows well when it counts!