Pollock rallies his BAR troops

Pollock's plea comes in the wake of the Brackley-based team's poorest performance of the year at the US Grand Prix two weeks ago, when a solitary 10th place was salvaged by Olivier Panis as Villeneuve decided to retire after contact with Pedro de la Rosa's Jaguar.

After Indianapolis, Pollock sat down with Villeneuve and talked through why he was disappointed and what they thought needed to be done to get the team back on track.

"The US Grand Prix was our worst racing performance of the last three seasons and I was embarrassed," Pollock exclusively told this week's AUTOSPORT magazine. "We're all to blame for that, but Jacques had played his part in the team's performance.

"Other teams had problems at that race, but it appeared to me that we just let it slide completely. We didn't pull together at all. After the race I had a serious and open discussion with Jacques and let him know in particular what I thought of the poor performance at this race."

Villeneuve has been outspoken about his frustration this year and the BAR003 has been difficult to set-up ever since its introduction over the winter. The 1997 world champion even told AUTOSPORT two weeks ago that he thought his glory days in Formula 1 were over.

Pollock, however, believes the team is capable of winning races and that it must pull together if it is to achieve the goals he has set for 2002.

"I will not accept anything less than a race-winning package for next season," continued Pollock. "I expect to get the best from the team and drivers at each and every race.

The team is currently equal fifth in the constructors' standings with Honda stable mate Jordan.

For Villeneuve's reaction and full Q&A see Thursday's AUTOSPORT.