Jacques is back!

[Helen]

;D ;D ;D

omg how happy am i!

Jacques Villeneuve: "The team and I share a common goal"
As his position with Renault for the final three races of 2004 was announced today, Jacques Villeneuve spoke positively about the future.

Jacques, you spent two days testing the Renault this week. How did it go?

It went extremely well and we had a very positive test. For the first day and a half, we worked on getting me comfortable in the car, altering the seat, the driving position, all the details you need to get perfect before you can start to be quick. Everything has happened very quickly - the seat was only made on Tuesday evening - so it was important to concentrate on that first of all. I also needed some time to play myself back in and get used to driving again, as well as adjusting my style to using a semi-automatic gearchange again. By lunchtime on Thursday, we started working on the set-up a little bit to adapt the car to my style, and it responded very well.

What was the welcome like in the team?

The welcome has been fantastic - everybody has been very positive in their approach. Over the years that we worked together I built up a genuine respect for Renault, and I am very grateful to the team that they have recruited me at this time. I have good memories from working with Renault and there were some familiar faces in the garage when I arrived on Wednesday. The team has worked hard to adapt the steering wheel and other small details to my habits, because that is the easiest way for these three races, and they had even used my old throttle traces to adjust the engine mapping for my first runs. Little details like that make a difference. Obviously, we are still getting to know each other, but the approach has been very open and constructive.

How did you find the R24 to drive?

Well, I used Fernando's set-up for much of the test but when we made some changes, I could already tell it was a very good car. It is not an easy car to drive but it is definitely quick. Once you have understood its characteristics then you can begin to really push and find the limit, which we started to on Thursday afternoon. The engine is very good and very smooth in its power delivery. We still have work to do, but my first impressions are positive.

China will be a new race for everybody: do you think that will play to your advantage?

I am not sure whether it will be an advantage or not. There are two ways of looking at it: firstly, you can say that nobody else has been there before either so I won't be at a disadvantage, but on the other hand, in that situation, you could say that you need as much experience as possible the car and the tyres in order to concentrate on learning the track. You can choose to be optimistic or negative. I'm looking at it in a positive frame of mind.

Finally, what are your objectives for these three races?
The team and I share a common goal: to beat BAR to second place in the championship. I am here to enjoy myself as well, but the priority is to contribute to Renault's fight in the championship. It will be tough, but sometimes you have to take the plunge. Once you have done so, there is no other option but to make it work.

[Helen]

Q: You seem very relaxed and very chilled out. Is that how you actually feel?

Jacques Villeneuve: "Yes, yeah I'm very relaxed. Listen, there's nothing to lose - there's no negativity, there's no reason to not be relaxed."

Q: Has it become easier today, the second day of testing?

Villeneuve: "Well this morning was hard because the seat wasn't fixed, and by lunchtime we finally fixed the seat and then it was fantastic."

Q: What exactly was wrong with it?

Villeneuve: "Oh, it was moving around, it was like I was in someone else's seat. I was actually holding on to the steering wheel to stay in position in the corners, and you can't drive like that, so... Well, you can drive but you can't feel the car, you can't set it up, you can't really do anything, so... that was the problem, I couldn't really work."

Q: When you initially stopped, just before Suzuka, was it nice to have a bit of a rest?

Villeneuve: "What, the whole year?"

Q: No, initially

Villeneuve: "Yeah, yeah, I was happy, definitely it was a good thing. Because it had been five years of political games. Not with the mechanics, not with the engineers, but with all the other side, and there was always negativity coming out. And at the end of the day,
even if you yourself want to be positive, once you take all that in, it does come out in some ways, and people expect you to be negative so they will hear the negativity, even when you're not saying it. So
it was just a rolling ball that, you know, a snowball that was getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and the break was very good and important."

Q: How long was it before you felt, 'right, I need to get in a car again'? Two three months? Or longer? Or quicker?

Villeneuve: "I never thought about it, you know? In Suzuka, I was back home and watched the race and I didn't feel bad about that. Umm... I spent the winter playing ice hockey with a team, or racing, or skiing, so that adrenalin rush I was getting anyway, it's just
that it was not on a professional side, it was for my own personal satisfaction. Of course, you know, every race I would watch and think, 'what could I have done there?'" (laughs)

Q: Do you think you might have won a race for BAR this year, had you been driving with them?

Villeneuve: "I think Jenson has done a fantastic job, so I... No, I can't say. It would have been hard to do better than what Jenson has done this year."

Q: Why do you think he's leaving, then?

Villeneuve: "Maybe because of the political aspects of certain parts of the team? I don't know..."

Q: Where you surprised?

Villeneuve: "I was surprised, because he was always highly protected within the team and basically it was him against me last year, so I was surprised, but... You know, he started with Williams and he's going back where started. So I don't think there should be any surprise there. He obviously feels he will do better there, and that's all that matters."

Q: It appears that BAR may be the better options for next year, though

Villeneuve: "Things can change so fast! You know, I thought that... if the team has become political again, then it might damage it a lot. Which is sad; I hope it's only a short spell of that. We'll see."

Q: When did you start the serious negotiations with Peter Sauber?

Villeneuve: "The last two weeks."

Q: You went there about two months ago, to see the windtunnel

Villeneuve: "Was it two months ago?? Was it?? Oh, wow, where was I!" -(Laughs) - "No, we didn't start right away, it started later than that."

Q: How impressed were you with the facility there?

Villeneuve: "Oh, the windtunnel was very impressive. And I was impressed with the people and with Peter and... Just the attitude."

Q: Why come back? Have you got anything to prove?

Villeneuve: "Why come back? No, it's not to prove anything, it's because, you know, I'm a racer."

Q: Do you miss it though, actually? The racing, did you miss that?

Villeneuve: "Well, I need this year. I needed the year. But I started to miss it. I started training in March. And to start training without having a contract is... well, you need to be missing something. So I must have missed it, because if not I would never had started training again."

Q: Did you watch the races on TV?

Villeneuve: "Most of them, yeah, when I remembered." (laughs)

Q: Did you find it boring?

Villeneuve: "Ummm... I found it difficult to find a rhythm in the race, because of the pitstops. You know, when everybody starts pitting on lap eight, for the rest of the race all you see is pitstop, pitstop, pitstop, and you don't see any rhythm, you never see... you used to see in the past where, OK, maybe now he's lost 10 seconds but 15 laps later you'd see oh, he's starting to catch up or maybe he uses his tyres better, and so on. Now you don't see that anymore - you never get any rhythm. So it's very hard to follow. Umm... but, Ferrari have been impressive. I don't think anything compares to the way they work."

Q: So where does it lead you from now? You've tested a couple of days with Renault; what's next?

Villeneuve: "I guess you'll find out when I find out!"

Q: You mean you haven't found out?

(Villeneuve smiles but doesn't answer. Everyone laughs)

Q: Because obviously you want to be racing in the next three races

Villeneuve: "Well, that's the point in testing."

Q: How much of a change was it for you to drive this car [and with tyres you are not familiar with]?

Villeneuve: "The speeds are a lot faster, and... I've heard that some drivers, when they got into winter testing when they changed the tyre make, after 30 laps they had to stop because suddenly it was too physical. So that's the biggest change. And that's why I'm happy I did two days. And that's why I'm happy I was training, because if not it would have been hell! I think it shows that the training I was doing was good, because you never know if it's good or not - you're always driving anyway, and a lot of the training is done driving, and you're doing the training on the side, so it's really hard to judge how much it's doing, but at least now it's showing that it's paying off."

Q: Did you attend any Grands Prix this year?

Villeneuve: "No. I have nothing to do in the paddock. I'm a driver, you know..." (laughs)

Q: Well, as a spectator

Villeneuve: "Oh, I was a spectator - a TV spectator. That's good."

Q: Do you anticipate some problems, physically, for a whole race?

Villeneuve: "Oh, this is one of the most physical tracks, muscle wise. So if I was OK here for two days - and we did 70 laps yesterday, 60-something today, so it shouldn't be a problem."

Q: So you're happy with the work you've done in the last two days?

Villeneuve: "Yes, I am more happy with the last afternoon, because I actually started working with the engineer. You know, I had been with the same... Well, I had been with Jock [Clear] since 1996, so it takes a while to get into a new habit."

Q: And the steering buttons and the whole lot as well

Villeneuve: "Yes. But that's OK, you know I've played enough computer games so that was nothing!"

Q: Did you make any set up changes?

Villeneuve: "Yeah, well, in the afternoon maybe. We did some yesterday, we did today, but nothing major. Yesterday we just started with Alonso's set up."

Q: What's your impression of the Renault compared to BAR?

Villeneuve: "It's too far away, and different tyres, different everything. I wouldn't compare."

Q: But did you like the Renault?

Villeneuve: "Yeah, at the end of the day it felt like a racing car. Yesterday it felt too difficult to drive - part of it because of me just getting used to driving again."

Q: The fact that China is new to everyone, does it help you at all?

Villeneuve: "I don't know, you can look at it two ways. It's new for everyone so it's not a disadvantage, but the fact that it's new to everyone means you have to really know your car and your tyres well. So depends. If you want to be positive, then it's better!" (laughs)

[Helen]

[Helen]

It's Official: Jacques Joins Sauber

Jacques has signed a two-year deal to drive for Sauber.
Just hours after Jacques drove a F1 car for the first time in a year as he took to the Silverstone track in testing for Renault, it was confirmed that he had joined Sauber for the 2005 and 2006 seasons.

"I am extremely excited to be back in Formula One with the Sauber team," Jacques said, "and I appreciate the confidence everybody is showing in me. It is my goal to work with Peter and his team to bring them forward in the championship during the next two seasons.

"In my recent visit to Sauber I have been extremely impressed by the professionalism which is apparent throughout the factory. I am looking forward to seeing the results that will be developed by the state-of-the-art wind tunnel."

Boss Peter Sauber was similarly enthused about Jacques' decision to join the team.

"I have to admit that signing a former World Champion is something truely special for me. However, I want to make it clear that this was not the decisive factor. When I was talking to Jacques, I could feel that he is absolutely keen and committed to return to Formula One. He was always a great fighter and I am convinced that together we can achieve a lot. I fully realise that signing a former World Champion is also an obligation for the team to provide him with a car that meets his expectations. Sauber Petronas has made considerable progress this year, and I am confident that we are ready to tackle this challenge."

Jacques will partner Felipe Massa for the 2005 season as he returns to the grid after a one-year absence.

;D ;D ;D

[Helen]