Jacques Villeneuve will make his dramatic formula-one comeback in China next week, making no secret of his desire to hunt down the BAR team who controversially dumped him 12 months ago.
The former world champion, who will drive for Sauber in 2005, will represent Renault in the last three races of the season after being drafted in as a short-term replacement for the axed Jarno Trulli.
”Renault and I share a common goal — to beat BAR to second place in the championship,” said Villeneuve.
”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.”
Villeneuve endured a stormy time at BAR before he was replaced by Japan’s Takuma Sato towards the end of the 2003 season.
His mission now is to prove his former employers were wrong to show him the door by chasing down Sato and Jenson Button at the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai next Sunday and then in Japan and Brazil.
Ferrari already have the drivers and constructors’ titles wrapped up leaving BAR, with 94 points, and Renault, 91, chasing second place.
However, China represents new territory for all the drivers with the Shanghai circuit making its debut in the schedule.
”There are two ways of looking at it,” said Villeneuve.
”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 [with] 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.”
The Canadian spent two days testing with Renault at Silverstone last week and he believes he will be ready for China when race day arrives in seven days’ time.
”Everything has happened very quickly. The seat was only made on Tuesday evening so it was important to concentrate on that first of all,” he said.
”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 gear change. 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.
”It is not an easy car to drive but it is definitely quick,” admitted the 1997 world champion.
”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.” — Sapa-AFP