'Worst Ever Weekend' for Villeneuve
Local hero Jacques Villeneuve admitted this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix was his worst ever after retiring for the race in front of his home crowd.
Local hero Jacques Villeneuve admitted this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix was his worst ever after retiring for the race in front of his home crowd.
The Canadian BAR driver crashed heavily on Friday, was hampered by mechanical problems on Saturday and suffered problems at the start of the race, losing several positions after qualifying in tenth place before being forced to retire.
"This weekend was really hard - the worst weekend I've ever had since I started racing," said Villeneuve. "Something went wrong on every day. During the race the anti-stall kicked in so I lost a lot of time.
"The car was running strong after that but then we started having brake problems and eventually a driveshaft problem ended my race."
Teammate Olivier Panis was also hit by mechanical problems in his BAR and was had to retire after a strong drive at the circuit where he broke his legs back in 1997. The Frenchman was disappointed after another point-less Grand Prix.
"I am very disappointed," admitted Panis. "I made a very good start and the car was really quick. We had a good strategy for today but on lap 28 I had problems with the brakes - the brake pedal was too far away and I could not stop the car.
"Everyone has worked really hard this weekend. It is really disappointing because we were looking strong. We need to understand very quickly how we can improve so that we can move forward."
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