BAR's nightmare weekend ends with ninth

The 1997 world champion had only crossed the line three times this year until today, and has still only one points finish - a sixth place in Brazil - to his credit, and there is no sign that Villeneuve's frustration is coming to an end.

"Of course I am happy to have finished a race without any technical problems but ending up ninth is pretty frustrating," he said. "I am pleased with how the car has been working but the limiting factor is the tyres today and there's nothing more we could do."

It has been a difficult weekend for the BAR-Honda team. The French police impounded its cars on Thursday and the team was unable to take part in Friday free practice. Hopes that Jenson Button might add some light to the gloom with a points finish ended on lap 21 when he retired. His fuel rig had failed deliver enough petrol after his first stop and the Englishman simply ran out of fuel.

"I got some fuel in my stop, but not all that I needed," said Button. "About 300 metres before I stopped I felt a couple of pick-ups and then the car just died. The team did call me in but I couldn't hear what they were saying so stayed out.

"It's obviously very disappointing to retire from a race because of a problem like this. The race was going very well, we were slow but the balance was good."