Villeneuve: Tragedy will be on my mind

The Canadian hit Ralf Schumacher up the back under braking during last year's race, which launched him into a series of rolls. A wheel from his British American Racing car flew off and hit marshal Graham Beveridge, who was killed in the impact.

"Although Melbourne has some happy memories for me, I was deeply affected by the tragedy of last year," Villenueve said. "Throughout the weekend, our thoughts will remain with those involved."

Despite the shadow cast by the tragedy, Villeneuve is looking forward to the start of the season at the Albert Park circuit. "It's exciting to get back into the season," he said. "After all our testing the car feels a lot better and we have found that we can attack the corners and carry speed into them, whereas last year that wasn't possible. I like Melbourne a lot. The circuit is difficult to drive and quite technical with some interesting corners. It's also quite long at over 5kms."

New BAR boss David Richards remains cautious about the team's hopes for 2002. "It will be a couple of years before we have all the ingredients in place to consistently beat the top teams," he said. "It is too early to say exactly how we will perform this year, but it is our clear objective to demonstrate that we can compete effectively against the top three teams. As we strengthen our resources, I would hope to begin battling for wins next year, and to be a title contender in 2004."

Villeneuve's team-mate Olivier Panis reckons the new car is a big improvement over the 2001 version. "All the hard work in testing seems to have paid off because the new car has better grip," he said. "Mechanically, it is a big improvement for low-speed and high-speed circuits. I feel more confident with the car so I can push harder. We also have a completely new engine from Honda who have made a big effort over the close season."