Villeneuve and de la Rosa Exchange Blame

BAR's Jacques Villeneuve and Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa exchanged accusations for their tangle during the US Grand Prix today, each stating the other party was at fault.

"Pedro was a little too optimistic with his overtaking manoeuvre and basically that put me out of the race," Villeneuve said. "The left rear of the car could have been damaged and it would have been dangerous to continue. We have to see what we can do to improve our performance for Japan now."

De la Rosa, on the other hand, blamed the French-Canadian, saying: "I was late braking into Turn 1 when Jacques, in typical form, made a move that didn't pay off and it cost me. I think he made a mistake on the previous lap and he tried a little too hard to make up for it. The door was open for me and he closed it at the last minute in a very unexpected manner."

The collision between the two, on lap 46 of the 73-laps race, saw Villeneuve retire shortly after, while de la Rosa continued to finish 12th. He was later promoted to 11th, after Jordan's Jarno Trulli was disqualified.