Villeneuve 'best of the rest' again

Villeneuve qualified seventh, but dropped to 15th when his BAR-Honda was involved in the chaos that followed Michael Schumacher's first corner spin - caused, ironically, by the German's Ferrari being tagged by Villeneuve's team mate Ricardo Zonta.

After climbing back through the field, Villeneuve ran fifth before a late-race single pitstop of only 7.8s - the fastest of the leading runners - put him fourth ahead of Jenson Button's Williams-BMW.

"I didn't really think I'd get in the points today," said Villeneuve, "so it was a good result. We obviously had a terrrible start, but then our pit stop strategy was good."

After his outspoken comments on Michael Schumacher earlier in the weekend, Villeneuve aimed his post-race rancour at Prost's Nick Heidfeld: "I didn't have any problems in the race, other than with Heidfeld, who was driving like when he was in Formula 3000, just putting everyone on the grass.

"When you're running 14th and 15th, like he was, that sort of driving is very difficult to accept."