Villeneuve Refused Turnaround Pleas

BAR-Honda boss David Richards revealed today that Jacques Villeneuve's close friend and race engineer Jock Clear attempted to convince the Canadian to go back on his decision not to race in this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

But Villeneuve ignored Clear's pleas, turned his back on the team and flew out of Tokyo Thursday as his press officer made an emotional farewell to the paddock.

The former World Champion was said to be extremely emotional after deciding to walk away and team chief David Richards said: "Jock has worked very hard to try to persuade him to race this weekend and Jock is as close to him as anybody.

"It is very sad, very sad. I certainly was not expecting this. He has been over here for a couple of days but I have not spoken to him. But you have to respect a driver's decision."

Richards also revealed that he had not spoken to Villeneuve throughout the discussions over his participation in this weekend's race and had instead dealt with the situation through Villeneuve's manager Craig Pollock.

He received a call from Pollock, who is a shareholder in BAR-Honda, as he headed down to Suzuka on the Japanese Shinkansen "Bullet Train" but said he did all he could to try and convince Villeneuve to go back on decision.

"Craig said that he had talked to Jacques and he really didn't feel he wanted to race this weekend, he didn't feel he was motivated or his heart was in it and could we discuss releasing him from his obligations," said Richards.

"I got Jock to speak to him but when a driver really doesn't want to race you can't ask someone to get into a car that is going to do 200mph around a race circuit if he is not heart and soul committed to it."

The BAR-Honda garages were immersed in a gloomy atmosphere on Thursday afternoon but Villeneuve's spokeswoman insisted that the Canadian could still continue his Formula One career next season. She said he has "several options" for the future but the only competitive race seat that appears to be currently available is the position alongside highly-rated Australian Mark Webber at Jaguar.