Patronise F1

With all the excitement and speculation we've had to endure over Button, Raikkonen and Alonso's 2010 contract negotiations, it's easy to forget that there's another world champion lurking in the shadows, hoping to bag himself a seat for next season. Yes: the follically-challenged part-time rockstar otherwise known as 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has been making noises about returning to the sport since early May. His name (along with half the drivers in the lower league formulas) has been linked with a drive at newbies USF1 and Lotus for quite some time. But are they serious? And if so, what do Peter Windsor and Mike Gascoyne see in a driver who was trounced by Button and replaced by Sato that the rest of the world doesn't?

Too often, poor Jacques is remembered for his crashes. However, when he entered the sport back in 1996, Villeneuve was lavished with the kind of praise that James Allen usually reserves for the most successful of Brits. He secured pole position in the first race of the season and had he not had an oil leak, would have won - presumably much to the annoyance of his vastly more experienced fellow part-time rockstar and ex-World Champion Damon Hill. As it happened, Villeneuve finished on the podium in his debut race, an achievement not equalled until a certain Lewis Hamilton came along some 11 years later.

By the fourth race of the season, he had clinched his maiden victory and he went on to win 3 more races, before taking the championship down to the wire in Japan, only to crash out after his right rear wheel rather comically overtook him. Despite the fact that the Williams FW18 was the quickest and most reliable car on the grid, and that Ferrari and Benetton were relatively uncompetitive that season, it seems unfair to criticise Villeneuve for this. He did, after all, take the battle to Hill without team orders, and his achievements as a rookie remained unsurpassed for over a decade.

The 1997 season brought several changes. Firstly, Damon Hill was disposed of, as Frank Williams called upon the services of Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Secondly, the resurgence of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari provided Villeneuve with a worthy contender. After being shown up by David Coulthard at the opening race in Melbourne, Villeneuve went on to string together several victories before 'pulling a Barrichello' (i.e. bottling it at his home race) and fending off a very late challenge by Schumacher to win the title in only his second attempt.

Up until this point, Villeneuve had established himself as a fantastic driver. He was as reckless as Kobayashi, and had taken on Schumacher and succeeded, showing consistency and maturity to boot. But incredibly, after the 1997 season, Villeneuve didn't win a single race and never finished higher than 5th in the championship. Even Jacques' glorious 90's hair-do couldn't help the woefully underpowered FW20 and at the end of the season he departed for the ludicrously liveried BAR team. Despite an optimistic press campaign in which the team boasted they would win their maiden race, Villeneuve retired from the opening eleven races of the season.

A marked improvement in 2000 was followed by a fairly anonymous 2001 season. However, it was 2003 that proved to be the beginning of the end for Villeneuve. Partnered by the fresh-faced Renault cast-off Jenson Button, Villeneuve suffered from a combination of poor reliability and rusty driving, and was roundly thrashed by a rather over-enthusiastic Button. The Brit scored 17 points to the Canadian's 6 and even led for a short while during the US grand prix, much to the delight of James Allen. By the season's end, Villeneuve's P45 was in the post and Takuma Sato was quickly drafted in to replace him.

Villeneuve presumably spent most of 2004 watching daytime TV, before a call from Flavio Briatore gave him the chance to sub for the always underwhelming and magnificently lacklustre Jarno Trulli. However, outpaced by Alonso, Villeneuve was simply too slow. 2005 was a slightly stronger year for Jacques, but all too predictably he failed to beat fellow Sauber rookie Massa in the championship, showing none of the flair that he had in his early years at Williams. he lasted half a season longer into 2006 before an accident in the German Grand Prix saw Villeneuve replaced by Kubica. Reluctant to face the Pole in a drive off, Jacques rather hilariously retorted that he had already proven himself, before disappearing to race in Le Mans and turn left in NASCAR.

But why should USF1 and Lotus be expressing any interest in Villeneuve? With the farcical testing ban, it is almost impossible for drivers to test-drive cars any more. New drivers such as Jamie Alguersuari are being forced to enter the championship having never driven a Formula One car before. Alonso won't drive a Ferrari until February. Quite simply, these shambling new teams need experienced drivers who can give reliable feedback and, most importantly, aren't Romain Grosjean. The decision to play it safe makes financial sense for the teams, but deprives us, the audience, of exciting new talent (and conversely, the laughably bad Ricardo Rossets of the present day). Instead, yesterday's has-beens are fished out of a stagnant pool and dumped in the first available seat.

Meanwhile, in a by no means attempt to rewrite history, Jacques has rather cunningly suggested that now Formula One is flick-up, grooved-tyre and refuelling-free, he would consider driving again. Would Formula One benefit from his comeback? Probably not. he's definitely not the talentless human-chicane that many make him out to be, but he certainly peaked over a decade ago. However bad his BAR days were, during his first seasons with Williams he was incredibly fast, willing to take risks and proved himself as a determined racer. It's just a shame he couldn't rise to the challenge and demonstrate his skills in a slower car. And if he couldn't do it in 2003, then there's certainly no need to see him trundling around in 16th place in 2010.

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