Villeneuve: The Car was Undriveable

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve complained about the handling of his British American Racing car after a very tough day for the former World Champion.

Villeneuve, whose Brackley-based squad are still the only ones to score a point in 2002, endured a torrid qualifying that saw him finishing in 19th position only ahead of the two Minardis and the Arrows of Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi.

The BAR driver, using a new 004 chassis today, claimed he was unable to find the right set-up for his car.

"Obviously I'm very disappointed to qualify 19th," admitted the Canadian. "I haven't been able to get the car to work all weekend and we just couldn't find a qualifying set-up today. We were slow all around the track but mainly in the first sector where I just couldn't get the car to work well.

"I drove as hard as I could but, to be honest, the car has been pretty undriveable and I don't understand it because Olivier seems able to get a lap time out of his. Tonight, we'll have to pull some hair and see what we can work out for the race."

Teammate Olivier Panis enjoyed a better session, the Frenchman posting the 12th quickest time more than a whole second ahead of Villeneuve.

"I'm quite happy with 12th position because that final run was extremely tough but I managed to control every metre of the lap and get the time," said Panis. "I appreciate all the hard work put in by my engineers and the rest of the team because, together, we have been able to raise our technical performance significantly over the last two days.

"They rose to the challenge, which was the only way back from this morning. Now, we have to continue to keep pushing for the race."