Villeneuve: Sauber Wasting my Expertise

The 34-year-old, criticised by team boss Peter Sauber recently as too slow, told Canadian reporters that he had run into a wall of indifference since he joined the Swiss-based team this year.

He added that he would welcome a rumoured takeover of the team by German carmaker BMW.

"It would be a very good thing," Montreal's French language La Presse and the Journal de Montreal quoted him as saying on Friday. "It would bring in more money and a different attitude."

Villeneuve, who has a two-year contract but has been surrounded with speculation about his future since the start of the season, said Sauber had not met his expectations.

"In this team, the driver has no influence. The only thing that matters is aerodynamics," he said. "It's not what I thought, it's not what I had been told.

"When they hired me, it was to use my experience. They do not use it at all. Nobody ever asks my advice and when I give it, they don't want it.

"I try to put forward ideas, to be proactive," continued the 1997 champion with Williams. "But I am hitting a wall, a very smooth wall with no grip.

"The team wanted experience, they paid for that. Now, the experience is there but they don't want to use it. It is part of their tools but they are leaving it in the toolbox."

Villeneuve made clear that he had not appreciated Sauber's comments about his lack of speed.

"If the team had not said 'we are disappointed, Jacques is not quick' I would have said nothing," he declared.

"But they say things like that and they don't want to let me work," he said. "What am I supposed to do? It's not fair."