Villeneuve Threatens to Leave BAR

Jacques Villeneuve has threatened to leave the British American Racing team unless there is a significant improvement in power and performance by engine suppliers Honda.

Japanese manufacturer Honda had promised a much-improved power unit for the 2002 season, but Canadian Villeneuve, the 1997 World Champion, told reporters in Sepang on Thursday that their developments have not been good enough.

"Work has got to be done on the engine," he said. "I am very happy with the improvements on the car, the chassis is good. A lot of it depends on Honda. If things do not get better this year I will move on to somewhere better. But of course I will have to look at what opportunities there are at the time."

Villeneuve added that he is hoping for his first finish of the season in Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix after going out of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix with a rear wing failure. He said he is desperate to finish and is hoping for a characteristic Malaysian downpour to help him achieve a good result.

"If it rains it would be better," said Villeneuve, who finished fifth in the race two years ago. "It is very hard to race under hot conditions, it is very physically demanding. I did not finish the race (in Australia) and finishing the race here would be an achievement."