Villeneuve Happy with Renault's Handling in the Wet

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve was pleased with the performance of his Renault in the treacherous conditions of today's practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.

The day was hindered by the heavy rain, which made it very hard for the drivers to even see the corners of the Suzuka circuit. However Villeneuve, driving the Renault in the wet for the first time, was pleased with his car's handling.

"There is no point in talking too much about our work today: the conditions were very poor and the car was aquaplaning a lot, which meant it was actually floating on the track surface and the driver had no control," said Villeneuve, 10th quickest.

"However, we managed to complete a small part of our programme and given that it was my first time driving this car in the wet, I was pretty pleased. The R24 is quite easy to drive and predictable in these conditions."

Villeneuve's teammate Fernando Alonso was 11th fastest after completing just seven laps in the afternoon session.

"We didn't learn much today: it ended up being a case of just getting used to driving the car again after two weeks," said Alonso. "The conditions were very hard, and there was too much water on the track, which meant we were aquaplaning in lots of places.

"It was the same for everybody, but with bad weather forecast for the rest of the weekend, it didn't really help any of us either."