Villeneuve Critical of Rivals

Villeneuve had three accidents with Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello, Minardi's Robert Doornbos and Jordan driver Tiago Monteiro.

Nonetheless, the former World Champion managed to continue in the race and finish in 15th position, albeit over three laps down.

"I seemed to get hit by everybody today," said the Canadian."On the first lap Rubens came into the side of me at the hairpin; I think maybe somebody pushed him.

"Then I had the thing with Doornbos on lap four. He was being very over-aggressive in his first race, and he moved over on me while he was braking so we touched. That was Formula Ford stuff, unnecessary. As for Monteiro on lap 27, I really don't think that he saw me.

"The funny thing is that the car was still good after all that contact, but eventually it developed a serious vibration. We changed the front tyres but that didn't fix it, and it began to get worse and worse, so I had to ease off a little.

"There was no point in risking everything by then."

Teammate Felipe Massa enjoyed a very different day, the Brazilian making a flying start which allowed him to run in the points for most of the race.

Massa went on to finish in eighth place.

"I think I made a pretty good start," said Massa. "I just saw a space and braked a lot later than anyone else into Turn One, and then let the car run wide and passed maybe four cars coming out. In Turn Two I again braked late and passed another, so it was very, very good.

"The pace after that was reasonable and consistent, and the balance of the car was good. Overall I think that was one of my best races to date, and scoring a point after starting so far back really keeps me motivated to keep on fighting. I'm very happy."