Villeneuve gears up to beat BAR

"Since March, all I've been doing is training, just to be ready for anything that might arise," he said in Shanghai, "and I'm fortunate to being doing the three races in a car that is competitive and with a goal. Renault wants to try and beat BAR in the constructors' championship, and so that is why there was interest from both parties!

"It will be a big challenge but a it's a great challenge. In the last part of the season BAR has scored more points than Renault, so it won't be easy, but I will do my best and we will see what we can do."

Villeneuve said he does not know what a realistic goal for the weekend will be until he drives the opening day at Shanghai: "I don't really know what to expect yet. I hope we can do something good. I am just here to help Renault to score points," he said.

Renault boss Flavio Briatore admitted that he, too, was unsure of what to expect from his new driver.

"I don't know if he's still got it," Briatore said candidly, "but I needed to do something when I had a situation in the team like in the last four races. We have 800 people in the team, you are pushing everyone hard to make the pieces for both cars, to make sure it is competitive and then you see one driver (Fernando Alonso) doing his best and one driver making less effort (Jarno Trulli). It was very difficult for the team and I had to do something.

"I talked with Jacques, he wanted to race and was very motivated to race against BAR anyway, that was another plus, and it looked good. We want cars finishing in the points and that is what I need from Jacques - to motivate Fernando and to try to finish second in the championship."