Button Not Useless, Says Villeneuve

BAR driver Jacques Villeneuve believes British teammate Jenson Button can achieve his first ever Formula One podium finish this year.

Villeneuve and Button started the season involved in a heated war of words after the Canadian admitted he did not have respect for Button as a Grand Prix driver. The outspoken former World Champion described Button - still only 23, despite three years of Formula One experience - as equivalent to a 'boy band' member when he joined BAR from Renault this year.

Button has outperformed Villeneuve quite often this season and equalled his best ever Grand Prix finish with fourth in Austria at the last race. He is now five points ahead of Villeneuve and the Canadian said: "Nobody ever said that he would be useless. Even at Renault he did some good races and some bad ones.

"He is doing the job, you know. He is driving quickly and he has just made a few mistakes, not too many. I am sure he will get a podium soon. He shouldn't leap up in the air for a fourth place. People ask questions as if I should be surprised about him getting a fourth place.

"But with the way the car is now the team, both him and I, should have got more fourth places - and actually we should have got podiums."

Button has finished five of the six races and finished third behind the two Ferraris in Thursday's first qualifying session in Monaco. Villeneuve, on the other hand, has been struck by reliability problems and has finished just half of the races so far this season.

He has been outpaced by Button in qualifying four times but former World Champion Villeneuve still believes he can swing the balance back in his favour.

"We are not halfway through the season yet," he said. "He is on a high, the team is behind him and he is getting good results. He is doing okay, there is no worries there. But luckily he didn't have the mechanical problems on the car so that allowed him to do a good job.

"We get along since the beginning of the season. The winter has been cleared and he has driven well but too many mechanical problems have made our job tough."