Ask Nigel Roebuck: May 5

Dear Derek,

I don't doubt JV is on the Williams shortlist - they need two new drivers for 2005, and a driver of his quality who is readily available would have to come into their considerations - but I'm less sure that he is close to the top of it.

When Villeneuve left the team for BAR, at the end of 1998, it was a great disappointment to Frank Williams and Patrick Head, both of whom were very keen he should stay. At the time he was unquestionably one of the three top drivers in the world, after all. Simultaneously, it was decided not to renew Heinz-Harald Frentzen's contract, so for '99 it was all change. This is not a situation any team relishes, then or now.

On the plus side, FW has time on his side, for a Williams-BMW is one of the plum
drives in F1, and an awful lot of people would kill for it.

Having lost Juan Montoya to McLaren, and having lost patience with Ralf
Schumacher and his ludicrous financial demands, Frank is looking at such as Mark Webber, Scott Dixon and Jenson Button.

Of these, Dixon, while promising in testing, is an unknown quantity in F1 terms; Webber is firmly under Flavio Briatore's management control, and - if he should move from Jaguar - is more likely to join Renault than any other team. As for Jenson, I cannot see David Richards allowing him to move anywhere, and the 'results clause' in his BAR contract may anyway preclude that.

Villeneuve, therefore, has to be worth serious consideration - but only under certain circumstances. As things stand, he doesn't have an F1 career at all, so if he were to come back, as a Williams driver, there would be no fancy retainers involved. Frank, I don't doubt, would insist on a contract which handsomely rewarded strong results, but guaranteed not a lot. Also, Jacques would significantly have to change his attitude to PR work, with sponsors and so on.

And, the thing is, can he still get the job done? It's a long time, after all, since he famously took on - and beat - Michael Schumacher in the title-deciding race at Jerez back in 1997. Admittedly, he had poor cars during his five seasons with BAR, but there were times when he seemed simply to have lost interest, and obviously there will be doubts that he can ever again be the driver he was.

Personally, my feeling is that Villeneuve's motivation is still there, or at least would be if he were handed an absolutely competitive car. He has no need to worry about money ever again, so that - if he serious about coming back - should not be a problem. He didn't enjoy languishing on the sidelines all those years, but a little bird in Monaco tells me that - out of the business for the moment or not -
he continues to train ferociously, like a man who expects to be back.

Last thing: Jacques, more than most of the drivers, will be elated by the forthcoming rule changes - it is Formula 1 the way he has always wanted it to be.



Dear Jonathan,

It's Wednesday, May 5, as I write this, so I'm afraid - in light of the events in Monaco yesterday - your question is already redundant...

I'll find out more this weekend at Barcelona, of course, but there seems little doubt that, by whatever means, Max Mosley has indeed persuaded the team owners finally to see sense, and to accept that F1 simply could not continue indefinitely on its current path. For one thing, with a no-holds-barred attitude to spending, most of the teams would eventually have disappeared; for another, had nothing been done to make grand prix racing exciting again, it would have finished up without an audience.

Therefore, in virtually all respects, I'm delighted to see the changes to come in F1. I'm sorry refuelling is to stay, and sorry there has - as yet, anyway - been no move towards two-day grand prix meetings, but otherwise I think the changes are all for the good, particularly the move to banish 'driver aids', which have long been abhorrent to most racing fans.

Keep your fingers crossed. Motor racing could be on the way back...



Dear Belinda,

First of all, I do get the impression that Michael, now racing only 'for fun' (ha!), is driving perhaps even better than he ever has before. He may say that, having won his record sixth World Championship, the pressure is off, but the way he dealt with Juan Montoya on the opening lap at Imola suggest his thirst for further success remains unquenched.

At the same time, it's true that Barrichello has had a quiet start to his season, particularly at Imola, where he got bogged down in traffic all afternoon, but it's worth remembering that people were saying similar things about him this time last year, and there were several occasions thereafter on which he clearly had the upper hand on Schumacher. Personally, I think his victory at Silverstone in 2003 was the best, by any driver, all season long.

At the moment, yes, I think Rubens is being beaten fair and square by the best driver on earth, but I wouldn't write his season off. When he's really on it, he can beat anyone, as we have seen.