Villeneuve: V8 engines still fun

The former World Champion on Thursday kicked off his winter testing programme with the BMW team, sampling the new V8 engine for the first time.

Villeneuve said he had expected the engine to be less powerful, and played down fears that the new units will be less challenging. The BMW driver, in fact, believes the engines could allow for more overtaking.

"It's always nice to get into the car after the break. Furthermore, it was the first time for me with BMW and the V8 engine, and this was nice," said the Canadian. "Of course, it's hard to compare the V8 with the V10, but I was expecting a bigger loss of power and more vibrations.

"It was not too bad and actually quite nice to drive. In fact you do feel a little loss of power, but it doesn't make driving less fun. The speed in the corners seems to be the same while you are going slower on the straights.

"Nevertheless, the driving will still be exciting and physical. Hopefully since we are all going less fast on the straights this will give us a bigger tow and this could mean more overtaking in the future."