No Pressure, Says Villeneuve

Former World Champion Jacques Villeneuve said he feels no pressure ahead of tomorrow's Chinese Grand Prix, stating his return to racing this season was 'a bonus'.

Villeneuve made a surprise return to Formula One, when Renault driver Jarno Trulli left the team days after the Italian Grand Prix, earlier this month. Villeneuve, who was left without a driving seat for the 2004 season, has signed a two year deal with Sauber for next season.

"I never expected to be racing this year," Villeneuve said in Shanghai today. "I expected to be racing next year so everything now is just a bonus. I've been racing since I was 17 so there's no reason to be more nervous than [when I made my F1 debut in] 1996."

Villeneuve, who last took part in qualifying a year ago, set the 13th fastest time, less than half a second behind teammate Fernando Alonso. He will start from the 12th place on the grid after BAR's Takuma Sato has been delegated 10 grid positions due to an engine change. But Villeneuve is still six positions behind Alonso.

"It would be better to be further up the grid, but in pure laptime I am where I wanted to be compared to Fernando," Villeneuve said. "I just was hoping there'd be less cars in between."

Explaining his performance, Villeneuve stated: "Turn six I just drove slowly. I misjudged it. I had a hard time all weekend with new tyres - in first qualifying they worked really well and then in second qualifying I wasn't as happy. When I got to turn six I wasn't aggressive enough.

"On turn 11 I had some problem with traction control. All morning we've been losing our way in terms of set-up. We got it back for qualifying one but in qualifying two I didn't want to go off because there is no point in starting from the back."

Asked if he believes the famous Renault starts - which saw Alonso and Trulli often make up several places before the first corner - could help him tomorrow, Villeneuve said: "It looks like a video game every time you watch it on TV. I just hope I won't be shocked too much when I go round the other cars!

"I hope it will work well, there's always the odd chance it won't work for some reason and I just hope it won't happen tomorrow."