Villeneuve to return?

Autosport is carrying a news article regarding the possible to Jacques Villeneuve to Williams. Apparently their sources tell us that Jacques in on the shortlist. Furthermore, this would depend on Ralf Schumacher leaving the team.

First off, I would say that despite the many accusations of Jacques being an overrated spoilt brat, I think he has proven in the past that he is a real racer. Cast your mind back to the 1996 Portugese Grand Prix when he passed Schumacher going round the outside of the final turn as Estoril. No doubt a move inspired by oval racing in his championship winning performance in the Indycar World Series in 1995. That was certainly a sight to behold and I bet surprised Schuey no end. Remember also his performance in the 1995 Indianapolis 500 race when he won after being a lap down on the leader.

As for natural speed, this man certainly has plenty of it. Sometimes though he spends his time battling himself rather than letting his natural talent flow through. One would expect that now that his no longer the whipper snapper in the field, he would have matured enough to have more control.

I think his time at BAR must have been a very frustrating one. However, I think his trust in his manager Craig Pollock was misguided. Pollock really has no business in Formula 1 and it is no surprise that much of BAR's history was marred by internal strife and in fighting. Pollock finally exited and good riddance. I mean, a guy who can claim during BAR's first season, that they were going to win races immediately clearly has no idea about Formula 1.

With David Richards in BAR the situation has changed tremendously. Richards, the boss of Prodrive is a no nonsense kind of guy and like Flavio Briatore is the kind of person who is able through force of personality and cunning, to mould and direct a team effectively. The problem was Jacques. No doubt about his speed. But then, no doubt about Jenson Button's speed neither. And yet here was one driver who demanded an exorbitant wage. Money that could have been diverted into the development and testing of the car. Yes Jacques can make the argument that he's been there a long time and took a lot of shit during that time, but he took a lot out of the team as well. David has a mission. And pleasing Jacques is not one of them when Button can do a good job as well.

I guess it's a value for money thing. And Jacques despite the enormous talent did not represent the kind of value for money a fledgling team like BAR needs. Also, I bet Honda put some pressure on David Richards to let Takuma Sato have a full time drive. By the way, I like Sato. He's got talent but I think he needs to have more zen in his driving. At the moment its just too Kamikaze and its wrecking his car and his own driving. Let the force flow through you Taku! Don't fight it.

But that's a different story. Frank and Patrick can afford Jacques I suppose. And it would be great to see Jacques in Formula 1. Certainly he would represent a better value to Williams than Ralf does. I mean come on. Him and his greedy bitch agent Willi Webber are asking wages more like big brother Schueys. And Ralf is nowhere near his brother's standard. If he was Giancarlo Fisichella would not have completely whipped his ass during their time together at Jordan.

Formula 1 in general needs another world champion competing in the championship. The only one that's free and available is Jacques Villeneuve. JPM v. MS v. KR v. JB v JV. Now that's a championship.

Jacques however, needs to grow up if he gets another shot in a top team.