Villeneuve Confident Ahead of Indy

Massa equalled the best result of his career in the chaos at Montreal while Villeneuve himself was unlucky not to add to his points' tally after qualifying a surprising eighth overall.

Those results have given Villeneuve fresh hope of a turnaround in the team's fortunes and he is optimistic that the low downforce nature of Indianapolis should allow the team to repeat their form this time out.

"We knew that Canada would probably be an OK race for us, because as soon as you go for low downforce, then the difference in efficiency from a good car to a medium car is less," said Villeneuve ahead of Friday's first practice session. "So you can sort of make it up.

"Also, the tyres were very soft. Here the tyres are semi-soft. On the straight here they grated the track. That might make it hard on the tyres, which would be good for us. It cannot be a negative for us. It is either the same or better for us to have the grooves in the track."

Off the track Villeneuve is also hoping for a better weekend than Canada, where he was dogged by continued speculation about his future with the team.

When asked whether he believed things will be a bit calmer this time out, he said: "Definitely, because everything was said in Canada."