Villeneuve Disappointed by 'Weak' Button

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve branded BAR teammate Jenson Button weak as their feud flared up today ahead of this weekend's Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix.

The 1997 World Champion drew Button's anger at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix when he messed up the Briton's race by pitting ahead of him on the same lap after missing an earlier order to come in. Button, who reiterated on Thursday that he had no choice but to follow Villeneuve into the pits or he would have run out of fuel, made his frustration evident afterwards and Villeneuve criticised his reaction.

"I was highly, highly disappointed to be blasted by my teammate in the media, [whereas] when coming out of the car he was all smiley and handshakes and everything," he told reporters today. "I found that a little bit weak - but I guess that's what I have to cope with now, a weak teammate.

"I have been working my butt off for this team for four or five years then somebody arrives and blasts me for what was not under my control. That's a little bit freaky."

The Canadian blamed a faulty radio for the mix-up.

Barely Talking

Button joined Villeneuve at the team this season and the two have failed to hit it off, with the Canadian saying at the BAR launch in January that the 23-year-old would have to earn his respect. Team insiders said then that the two were barely talking to each other and the frosty relations deteriorated in Melbourne.

Villeneuve said there would be no "kiss and make up" now, but Button was in a more conciliatory mood in an earlier news conference at the circuit on Thursday.

"We get on fine," he said. "Lots of things obviously happened in Australia for whatever reason. That was Australia and it's finished now. We've just got to get on with this race and hope the same things don't happen.

"The radios are fixed now, they work now," he added. "Mine's fine. After the race a lot of work has gone into making sure the radios are working well."

Asked to comment on a report quoting team boss David Richards as saying Villeneuve's problem was that his earpiece had fallen out, Button replied: "I don't actually know that...I don't know if it's true if his earpiece fell out. It doesn't really matter now. As long as it doesn't happen again. You can't go back in time."

Villeneuve said his radio had been incomprehensible, "just making noise", and claimed that Button had enough fuel on board to last another lap.

"I think it is very important for a driver to be self-critical before he starts blaming anybody else," he added. "If you spend your career saying what could have been then you don't achieve anything. That is a little bit what has happened through Jenson's career."