Villeneuve's Bleak Season Grows Darker

Jacques Villeneuve's bleak season grew even gloomier today at the circuit where he recorded his first and last wins.

Canada's 1997 World Champion struggled in qualifying for Sunday's European Grand Prix, finishing a dismal 17th place for BAR. He made no attempt to hide his feelings.

"The season is going crap," said Villeneuve, who along with five-times World Champion Michael Schumacher is the only active driver to win the Formula One title. "The car is breaking down all the time and we've lost our way with the set ups."

Villeneuve has just three points in eight races and has not won since the Luxembourg Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in 1997. His first win, also with Williams, came there in 1996.

"We changed the set-up just before the qualifying and I didn't do a good lap," he said. "I made a mistake in turn one. A bunch of things made us slower than we should have been. Today was a bad day. I'm sure it will be a very tough race because we'll be starting well behind where we normally should be."

Villeneuve's contract expires at the end of the year and the options appear limited for the 32-year-old driver who is one of the highest paid in the sport. He had been linked to Toyota, but they ruled out any interest in him on Friday and there are no obvious vacancies at the top three teams.

Change

"No, I didn't hear about that," Villeneuve said when asked about Toyota team boss Ove Andersson denying any interest.

"We didn't talk to them so it doesn't really matter," he added before turning and walking away.

Frank Williams, who brought Villeneuve into Formula One, said the Canadian could benefit from a change of scene.

"His career has been a downward spiral for years," he said. "One suspects a change of environment, and that's not to be critical of his team, it's just he needs a change."

Asked whether that change might be away from Formula One, Williams said: "I don't think that's necessary."

Villeneuve would be happy just to have a change of fortune after failing to finish five of eight races. To add insult to injury, he has been criticised this season for failing to get out of the way of speedier cars trying to lap him and has feuded with teammate Jenson Button.

Villeneuve won the World Championship in a dominant Williams in 1997 but has been at BAR since 1999, a Honda-powered team who have yet to win a race.

Villeneuve's manager Craig Pollock said in Canada two weeks ago that he was confident the driver would be back in 2004, while BAR team boss David Richards said discussions about the driver's future could wait until late July.