Q & A with Villeneuve after Second Day of Testing

Following his second day of testing for Renault, former World Champion Jacques Villeneuve met the press this evening at the Silverstone track. Atlas F1 brings the full transcript of the Canadian's press conference.

Q: You seem very relaxed and very chilled out. Is that how you actually feel?

Jacques Villeneuve: "Yes, yeah I'm very relaxed. Listen, there's nothing to lose - there's no negativity, there's no reason to not be relaxed."

Q: Has it become easier today, the second day of testing?

Villeneuve: "Well this morning was hard because the seat wasn't fixed, and by lunchtime we finally fixed the seat and then it was fantastic."

Q: What exactly was wrong with it?

Villeneuve: "Oh, it was moving around, it was like I was in someone else's seat. I was actually holding on to the steering wheel to stay in position in the corners, and you can't drive like that, so... Well, you can drive but you can't feel the car, you can't set it up, you can't really do anything, so... that was the problem, I couldn't really work."

Q: When you initially stopped, just before Suzuka, was it nice to have a bit of a rest?

Villeneuve: "What, the whole year?"

Q: No, initially

Villeneuve: "Yeah, yeah, I was happy, definitely it was a good thing. Because it had been five years of political games. Not with the mechanics, not with the engineers, but with all the other side, and there was always negativity coming out. And at the end of the day, even if you yourself want to be positive, once you take all that in, it does come out in some ways, and people expect you to be negative so they will hear the negativity, even when you're not saying it. So it was just a rolling ball that, you know, a snowball that was getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and the break was very good and important."

Q: How long was it before you felt, 'right, I need to get in a car again'? Two three months? Or longer? Or quicker?

Villeneuve: "I never thought about it, you know? In Suzuka, I was back home and watched the race and I didn't feel bad about that. Umm... I spent the winter playing ice hockey with a team, or racing, or skiing, so that adrenalin rush I was getting anyway, it's just that it was not on a professional side, it was for my own personal satisfaction. Of course, you know, every race I would watch and think, 'what could I have done there?'" (laughs)

Q: Do you think you might have won a race for BAR this year, had you been driving with them?

Villeneuve: "I think Jenson has done a fantastic job, so I... No, I can't say. It would have been hard to do better than what Jenson has done this year."

Q: Why do you think he's leaving, then?

Villeneuve: "Maybe because of the political aspects of certain parts of the team? I don't know..."

Q: Where you surprised?

Villeneuve: "I was surprised, because he was always highly protected within the team and basically it was him against me last year, so I was surprised, but... You know, he started with Williams and he's going back where started. So I don't think there should be any surprise there. He obviously feels he will do better there, and that's all that matters."

Q: It appears that BAR may be the better options for next year, though

Villeneuve: "Things can change so fast! You know, I thought that... if the team has become political again, then it might damage it a lot. Which is sad; I hope it's only a short spell of that. We'll see."

Q: When did you start the serious negotiations with Peter Sauber?

Villeneuve: "The last two weeks."

Q: You went there about two months ago, to see the windtunnel

Villeneuve: "Was it two months ago?? Was it?? Oh, wow, where was I!" - (Laughs) - "No, we didn't start right away, it started later than that."

Q: How impressed were you with the facility there?

Villeneuve: "Oh, the windtunnel was very impressive. And I was impressed with the people and with Peter and... Just the attitude."

Q: Why come back? Have you got anything to prove?

Villeneuve: "Why come back? No, it's not to prove anything, it's because, you know, I'm a racer."

Q: Do you miss it though, actually? The racing, did you miss that?

Villeneuve: "Well, I need this year. I needed the year. But I started to miss it. I started training in March. And to start training without having a contract is... well, you need to be missing something. So I must have missed it, because if not I would never had started training again."

Q: Did you watch the races on TV?

Villeneuve: "Most of them, yeah, when I remembered." (laughs)

Q: Did you find it boring?

Villeneuve: "Ummm... I found it difficult to find a rhythm in the race, because of the pitstops. You know, when everybody starts pitting on lap eight, for the rest of the race all you see is pitstop, pitstop, pitstop, and you don't see any rhythm, you never see... you used to see in the past where, OK, maybe now he's lost 10 seconds but 15 laps later you'd see oh, he's starting to catch up or maybe he uses his tyres better, and so on. Now you don't see that anymore - you never get any rhythm. So it's very hard to follow. Umm... but, Ferrari have been impressive. I don't think anything compares to the way they work."

Q: So where does it lead you from now? You've tested a couple of days with Renault; what's next?

Villeneuve: "I guess you'll find out when I find out!"

Q: You mean you haven't found out?

(Villeneuve smiles but doesn't answer. Everyone laughs)

Q: Because obviously you want to be racing in the next three races

Villeneuve: "Well, that's the point in testing."

Q: How much of a change was it for you to drive this car [and with tyres you are not familiar with]?

Villeneuve: "The speeds are a lot faster, and... I've heard that some drivers, when they got into winter testing when they changed the tyre make, after 30 laps they had to stop because suddenly it was too physical. So that's the biggest change. And that's why I'm happy I did two days. And that's why I'm happy I was training, because if not it would have been hell! I think it shows that the training I was doing was good, because you never know if it's good or not - you're always driving anyway, and a lot of the training is done driving, and you're doing the training on the side, so it's really hard to judge how much it's doing, but at least now it's showing that it's paying off."

Q: Did you attend any Grands Prix this year?

Villeneuve: "No. I have nothing to do in the paddock. I'm a driver, you know..." (laughs)

Q: Well, as a spectator

Villeneuve: "Oh, I was a spectator - a TV spectator. That's good."

Q: Do you anticipate some problems, physically, for a whole race?

Villeneuve: "Oh, this is one of the most physical tracks, muscle wise. So if I was OK here for two days - and we did 70 laps yesterday, 60-something today, so it shouldn't be a problem."

Q: So you're happy with the work you've done in the last two days?

Villeneuve: "Yes, I am more happy with the last afternoon, because I actually started working with the engineer. You know, I had been with the same... Well, I had been with Jock [Clear] since 1996, so it takes a while to get into a new habit."

Q: And the steering buttons and the whole lot as well

Villeneuve: "Yes. But that's OK, you know I've played enough computer games so that was nothing!"

Q: Did you make any set up changes?

Villeneuve: "Yeah, well, in the afternoon maybe. We did some yesterday, we did today, but nothing major. Yesterday we just started with Alonso's set up."

Q: What's your impression of the Renault compared to BAR?

Villeneuve: "It's too far away, and different tyres, different everything. I wouldn't compare."

Q: But did you like the Renault?

Villeneuve: "Yeah, at the end of the day it felt like a racing car. Yesterday it felt too difficult to drive - part of it because of me just getting used to driving again."

Q: The fact that China is new to everyone, does it help you at all?

Villeneuve: "I don't know, you can look at it two ways. It's new for everyone so it's not a disadvantage, but the fact that it's new to everyone means you have to really know your car and your tyres well. So depends. If you want to be positive, then it's better!" (laughs)