Spectacular Villeneuve Annoyed at Missing Podium

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, one of the few Formula One drivers known to the American crowd, produced an exhilarating performance in Sunday's Grand Prix but was frustrated at finishing only fourth.

"It's a good performance, but I'm annoyed not to have got third," the BAR Honda driver said after giving Indianapolis fans several thrilling moments as he attempted to pass German Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Jordan in the closing stages.

As a former winner of the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar series, much was expected of Villeneuve by the 250,000 fans in the towering stands -- and he did his best to deliver.

"We lost a lot of time early on," he said. "The car wasn't very quick on the humid track, but once we got going on the dry track the car was very, very fast.

"I had no straight line (speed), and it was very difficult to get close to anybody. I'm just disappointed that we're not on the podium today.

"I tried hard, made a couple mistakes today, put the wheels in the grass in the hairpin and spun early on."

With teammate Ricardo Zonta finishing sixth from 12th on the grid, it was BAR's most competitive result in their second season in Formula One.

"It's a great result for the team to get both cars in the points and I'm pleased to finish in the top six for the second race running," Brazilian Zonta said.

Takefumi Hosaka, managing director of Honda research and development, said: "Obviously we are very pleased to get this result. It was very exciting for us and for the fans to see Jacques battling all through the race for third place and the lap times today show that the car was very competitive."