Villeneuve sets BAR target to make him stay

A feisty Villeneuve also spoke of the energy-sapping effects of the political battles that wracked the Brackley-based team and said he was confident that BAR will come out on top in the battle with Honda's other works outfit, Jordan.

Last summer, the French-Canadian turned down a switch to Benetton to stay with the team part-owned by his mentor and manager Craig Pollock, but since then he has always said that if BAR cannot deliver the goods, he will quit before the end of his current three-year contract.

Speaking at BAR's London launch of its 2001 campaign, Villeneuve re-iterated his 'improve or I quit' stance, but said he believed the team was capable of making the jump into a race-winning proposition and to a top three position in the constructors' championship.

"Yes I do, or else I would have gone somewhere else," he said. "What you have to say is that 2000 was a big improvement on '99, and if we do the same improvement again, then we'll be in the front. I want at least that improvement.

"If the team doesn't go up or forward, then I will not stick with it. They know that, and I don't think anybody would expect - in the team anyway - anything different."

The 1997 World Champion said he believed BAR was capable of taking him to a second title, but refused to set a target date.

"I don't know when in the future," he said. "I don't know whether it's next year or in two years, but I believe it can be done. I would not have stayed."

Commenting on last year's BAR in-fighting, which at times threatened to end in a coup to oust team boss Pollock, Villeneuve said: "It's quitened down a lot. It didn't have any negative... Well it had negative influences, but we still managed to work properly through them, and now it should be easy.

"But it is very energy-sapping, because you spend a lot of your time concentrating on that, instead of just driving and setting the car up. So it was quite annoying. But now it seems to have settled down."

Last year, BAR had works Honda power, while Jordan used Mugen-built, Honda-derived units. This year, although BAR will continue to work exclusively with Honda on chassis and aerodynamics, on the engine side it is joined by the Silverstone-based team in being supplied works V10s. Villeneuve doesn't see this as a problem.

"It's great, because we'll be in front of the other one," he said. "They can do all the spade work!

"The rivalry is with anybody out there, anybody that is in front of us or close by. Jordan has been a quick team in the past, but not every year and every race, so it's difficult to know in advance if they'll be up there or mess up."

Check out Autosport.com's full Q&A with Jacques, (Click Here).