Clear: Villeneuve Frustrated by BAR Success

BAR's success has left Canadian Jacques Villeneuve annoyed and frustrated after five years of struggle with the Formula One team, according to his former race engineer.

Jenson Button, the Briton who sparred with the prickly Villeneuve last year before settling their differences, has notched up three podiums in a row for BAR including second place at Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix.

Button also handed the team their first pole position since they entered the sport in 1999 last weekend. Villeneuve's best results with BAR were third places in Spain and Germany in 2001.

"He's just very disappointed not to be around when it all came good," said Jock Clear, who has remained in regular contact with the former champion after he was replaced at the end of last season by Japan's Takuma Sato.

"It's not as if it never looked like it was coming good and he gave up," Clear, who had worked with Villeneuve from his 1997 title year at Williams and is now Sato's race engineer, told Autosport magazine on Thursday.

"He knew it was going to take time and he didn't want to go to Renault in 2001 so he said 'we'll stick at it'. Now the fruits of our labour are there to be seen. He's frustrated, but he has big inner strength. He'll be annoyed, but there are more important things in life."

The Canadian has kept a low profile since he left Formula One but has been linked to a possible return to Williams. The team have at least one driver vacancy, and probably two, for 2005 with Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya moving to McLaren and Germany's Ralf Schumacher out of contract at the end of the year and expected to move on.

However BAR boss David Richards questioned whether Villeneuve was still interested in the sport.

"I'd be very surprised if Jacques cared less," he told the magazine. "I doubt if he's even watching it on television. He's that sort of character. He lives his own life and I don't suppose he has any interest in F1 whatsoever."