All of JV's talk was for nothing

[m7ammed]

BMW motorsport boss Mario Theissen has made it clear that Jacques Villeneuve’s position in the German manufacturer’s works squad for 2006 is not assured – despite the driver’s claims that he has a cast-iron contract.

“We have been fully focused on getting Nick [Heidfeld] under contract for next year in the first instance and now we are looking into the other issue,” Theissen told news agency Reuters.

Villeneuve maintains that BMW is bound by his existing two-year contract with Sauber, which runs until the end of 2006.

But the former world champion’s lacklustre form in the first part of the season and the BMW takeover in the summer put his position in the team into jeopardy.

Villeneuve has since raised his game and begun to match and sometimes beat Ferrari-bound team-mate Felipe Massa – a fact acknowledged by current team boss Peter Sauber.

Theissen says that JV’s recent performances have improved his chances of retaining the drive, but stressed that he has more to do to prove he is the right choice for BMW.

“Apparently we all saw that even a world champion cannot return after a period of being out of the sport and be competitive right from the start. So Jacques's first half of the season was certainly not encouraging,” said Theissen.

“Now he is catching up and we just decided we wanted to see him in the second half of the season.

“We don’t see ourselves under any time pressure but that’s on our table now. You will see the definite line-up at the first race. Anything can happen in Formula 1.”

Other candidates on BMW’s shortlist are believed to include BAR test driver Anthony Davidson and his McLaren counterpart Alex Wurz.

Taken form here
it seems that all teh talk he has been doing got himnothing with BMW they are serious, and if he is not good enough the will bring a replacment, so he has to prove him self in these last races

 

[Blake]

He's beating his team mate. What more is there to prove?

Blake

 

[Lee]

Well he is up against Wurz and Davidson, who are both younger than him.

 

[pSI civic]

hes no longer a race winner in my mind. hes just been out of it to long. i do believe he can get in the points often though so he may be a good choice as a 2nd driver.

 

[Lee]

but so can Wurz and possibly Davidson, its a close one.

 

[Appie]

Villeneuve is good dont write him down

 

[Omnis]

I think V is "good", but he's not a world champion. He wouldn't be doing as well if he didn't have the torch under his ass. He's too pompous.

 

[qwazy|06]

i think jv is one of the few, if not the only, remaining "characters" in the sport.

not only that, but i think the guy can still race. granted some may say anyone
could win with a williams that year, you dont just stumble upon world championships.
you have to have something that gets you to the pinnacle of your sport.

 

[Lee]

I think V is "good", but he's not a world champion.

Where you alive in '97??

 

[niky]

Where you alive in '97??

Too bad for JV it isn't 97 anymore.

While it's true that veterans can still keep up with the kids, the amount of time JV has been out of the game is a major factor in whether he'll be competitive or not next season.

 

[Blake]

JV really has to work on his qualifying pace if he gets the drive next year. He is getting back his race pace but Massa beats him hands down in qualifying.

Blake

 

[Drift260Z]

about the whole quickness fading with age. look at Niki Lauda. won in '75 and '77, retired then came out of retirment to win once more in '84. amazing. Jaques was the only person who I belived doesn't deserve a world championship. he's had plenty of time to get used to F1 cars again and he still hasn't shown anything of what we saw in '97. I belive the reason he won in '97 is because 1) the williams he was driving and 2) schumacher had all his points stripped from him which pretty much gave the championship to Jaques. just something about Jaques that pisses me off. there is no way he can be the son of Gilles. Gilles was amazing, and Jaques falls flat on his face. I don't see the relation. but I suppose it's like Niki Lauda and Mathias Lauda. Niki, well....he came back from almost death and retirment to win a world championship. and Mathias.....is Mathias.





rock.

 

[Omnis]

Too bad for JV it isn't 97 anymore.

While it's true that veterans can still keep up with the kids, the amount of time JV has been out of the game is a major factor in whether he'll be competitive or not next season.

Thank you for understanding my point.


(Bee. 👎 )

 

[MustangSVT]

I belive the reason he won in '97 is because 1) the williams he was driving and 2) schumacher had all his points stripped from him which pretty much gave the championship to Jaques.

I agree that he had a good car, but so did Schumacher. And he beat Schumacher in the last race... Schumacher was what, 1 point ahead of him in last race? He crashed into him and got out of the race. Jacques instead kept on going in the race and got 3rd behind the 2 McLaren's. That put him in 1st and winning the championship. Schumacher being taken his points away has nothing to do with it. Even if that hadn't happened, he'd of still won that year...

Besides, he beat Schumacher. How many other drivers can say they beat Schumacher during his peak time when he was driving an awesome car... Damon Hill once, Mika Hakkinen twice, and eh that's it.

 

[Blake]

I wouldn't call the 1997 Ferrari an awesome car...

Blake

 

[Lee]

Yeah lol the '97 Ferrari was poor.. MS was amazing to even get that into the lead of the championship for the last race.

And to Omnis: sorry lol i thought you were saying he didn't win a championship.

 

[Blake]

Winning a championship and being a ‘champion’ are entirely different things.

Blake

 

[Lee]

yeah i guess, how many times has he made it onto the podium since 97??

 

[amp88]

The '97 Ferrari was poor, but the '96 Ferrari (when Hill won the championship) was a dog. Still, Hill is/was a faster driver than Villeneuve, IMHO

 

[Famine]

From what I've seen this season and last, Villeneuve is the most dangerous driver in F1.

 

[amp88]

From what I've seen this season and last, Villeneuve is the most dangerous driver in F1.

Come on, what about Sato and Montoya?

 

[niky]

Not Pizzonia?

 

[Lee]

From what I've seen this season and last, Villeneuve is the most dangerous driver in F1.

Well except from Monaco where he took Massa out, i think he has been one of the cleanest drivers around, if you want dangerous drivers look at Sato, Webber, JPM and Pizzonia.

Wow i out smarted Famine!!!

 

[Famine]

Not even slightly.

Every time I've seen a collision (except Schumacher and Webber, which was hilarious), Villeneuve has been involved. He must have hit everyone - including his own teammate - at least once this year.

Hell, he's even smacked into someone (Coulthard) during Practice.

 

[Kylehnat]

Jacques needs to quit. He is no longer F1 worthy, as his championship immunity has expired (I think 8 years is long enough). He was not fast in a slow car (BAR 004), he was not fast in a fast car (Renault R24), and he is not fast in a mediocre car (Sauber C24). Some one else deserves a shot.

 

[Blake]

Mind you, that incident in Monaco was highly unusual. TBH – it would be hard not to be involved in that incident. Montoya and DC were going far slower than they should have been, especially on a track with no run off and little room to manoeuvre.

I can’t say that JV isn’t a dangerous driver, but I don’t think he is the most dangerous driver in F1.

Blake

 

[[FPV]Rusty]

jeez, people have little comings together with another car a few times and suddenly they are dangerous drivers who are going to get people killed, it onyl takes a little tap to DNF your car and someone elses, many of these incidents are blown out of proportion. I dont disagree that a few particular drivers are involved in collisions far to often, and as a team boss you dont want that, dur, but to call some of these people dangerous is a bit harsh, they are doing there job, which happens to be a dangerous job, sure in your workplace you try and take every precuation to make it safe as possible, but its kind of hard when your job is to get by the guy in front. These people are humans not super intelligent robots who can calculate the exact amount of braking force needed to give maximum stopping power without locking, the exact distance to the car in front, exact timeing of the pass and room available for a pass, and not even this totally hypothetical robot from thousands of years in the future could know without doubt what his opponent might do.

On the other hand, some drivers do seem to make stupid moves, that go behond a 'miscalculation' or 'mistake'. E.G sato that trys to outbrake from a distance that even Blind, Deaf, Mentally Impaired, Disalusioned, Egotistical, Living in Third World Country That Has No Motorsport Heritige Freddie could tell is a country mile beyond 'to far back to even thinking about passing even if the car in front stops like a Mac Truck hitting a little kids tricycle'

 

[Blake]

I don’t think any of us meant dangerous in a life threatening sense … more dangerous in a “makes too many stupid moves” sense.

I think JV tries to be too much like his father, in an era where you just can’t drive like that! GV was a very skilled and aggressive driver, far too agressive for modern F1.

Blake

 

[pSI civic]

On the other hand, some drivers do seem to make stupid moves, that go behond a 'miscalculation' or 'mistake'. E.G sato that trys to outbrake from a distance that even Blind, Deaf, Mentally Impaired, Disalusioned, Egotistical, Living in Third World Country That Has No Motorsport Heritige Freddie could tell is a country mile beyond 'to far back to even thinking about passing even if the car in front stops like a Mac Truck hitting a little kids tricycle'

so we're talking about hill now? the 1995 british gp... that was even worse then sato at spa this year.

 

[[FPV]Rusty]

so you would actually defend someone attempting to outbrake an opponent from practically the other end of the the straight? (and I'm not just talking of a single incident)