BMW Sauber Confirms Villeneuve..

[E46Fanatic]

Call it blind stupid fan support, I really don't know why I like this guy.. Lets see how he stacks up with NH. We know that NH really made Mark Webber's "harga saham" plunge last season.----------BMW Sauber confirm VilleneuveVilleneuve to begin tests this month ZoomAfter month of speculation, Villeneuve is confirmed at BMW Sauber It's now official: Jacques Villeneuve will line up alongside Nick Heidfeld for the BMW Sauber F1 Team in 2006. As BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen explained: "We took a close look at Jacques' performance level at the end of last season. After an extremely tough first half of the year - which showed that even a former World Champion cannot come back after a period away and be competitive from day one - he got closer and closer to his team-mate over the second half of the season. We are in no doubt that Jacques will make the BMW Sauber F1 Team stronger.""Between 1999 and 2004 I experienced first-hand the difficulties and complexities involved in setting up a new team," said Villeneuve, "but I've never been afraid of a challenge. Sauber was already a good team and now we also have the resources of BMW behind us. I will do everything I can to contribute to the success of the BMW Sauber F1 Team."Now living in Villars, Switzerland's adopted son will start work for the new team in the first testing session in Jerez on 8th December. Villeneuve was crowned Formula One World Champion faster than any other driver before or since after making his debut in the series. In 1996, his rookie year, the Canadian finished second in the overall standings behind his then Williams Renault team-mate Damon Hill. The following year, he fended off the challenge of Michael Schumacher to go one better and take the title for the same team. On 22nd June 2005, BMW made public its commitment to head its own team in Formula One after taking a majority interest in the Sauber team from 2006. The signing of Nick Heidfeld was announced on 16th September, followed by confirmation of the official team name and the identity of key positions in the team - with Willy Rampf (Chassis/Hinwil) and Heinz Paschen (Powertrain/Munich) as Technical Directors - on 14th November. The partnership with Petronas was then finalised and announced on 24th November.Testing with the Sauber C24B interim chassis (modified for the BMW P86 V8 engine) got underway on 28th November in Barcelona. At the same time, the development of the V8 engine and 2006 chassis has continued apace in Munich and Hinwil respectively. Press ReleaseBMW Sauber --------

 

[carrera]

I like to see JV behind the wheels of a Formula 1 car.

Last season was difficult for him but he sort of get his act together for the 2nd half of the season.

As much as I am glad with him being confirmed in BMW for 2006, JV must really be 'on' it from day one in order to have something respectable to drive in 2007 and beyond.

 

[feisaldzul]

woohoo!!!

 

[bmchai]

i like this guy too..

at least some character.....

unlike the "robot" iceman...

 

[ALBundy]

JV is still popular with the fans because many still hope he will reproduced the kind of form which won him the World Title...and of course his no holds barred comment which will make F1 a little more interesting.

 

[OSFlanker]

Good to hear he will remain in F1 next year, mixing in with all the w.ankers but he likes to mix with the w.ankers coz he can tell them they are w.ankers to their face

 

[thinice]

Villeneuve was one of the most exciting drivers to enter formula 1 when he switched from the American Super Cart series many.many years ago.

The last few (more than a few, actually) years have been very hard on him. I really hope he still has it inside him the qualities that made him so good in the past.

 

[E46Fanatic]

Dr. Mario has his say about driver lineup.... Still no news on the 3rd driver

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INTERVIEW-BMW expect Villeneuve to be on the pace

LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - BMW expect Jacques Villeneuve to put his troubled comeback with Sauber behind him and start next season as quickly as new team mate Nick Heidfeld.

BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen said on Sunday he was confident the Canadian had overcome the problems that had critics this year writing off the former world champion's Formula One future.

Villeneuve, the 1997 champion with Williams, was confirmed by BMW only last week despite insisting he had a watertight contract for 2006 after the Munich carmaker bought Sauber.

"We had some meetings, some discussions and we got the impression that he is very motivated for next year to continue with the performance he showed towards the end of the year," Theissen told Reuters.

"So on that basis we decided for him to be the other driver next year.

"The relationship is okay. We had some meetings and its perfect now.

"Towards the end of the season he was about Felipe (Massa)'s pace so I am confident he will do a good job next year. It's certainly a different situation to last year where he returned from a break.

"Now he has driven this car on Michelin tyres for an entire season so there's no reason why he shouldn't be strong from the beginning.

"He'll get the same support as Nick and we expect him to be as strong as Nick."

Villeneuve, 34, sat out most of 2004 after being dropped by BAR and was well off Massa's pace in the early races of this year as he struggled to get to grips with a car that the team admitted was disappointingly slow.

Brazilian Massa has since joined Ferrari to drive alongside seven times champion Michael Schumacher. Heidfeld has moved from Williams.


THIRD DRIVER

BMW considered alternatives to Villeneuve, including France's CART champion Sebastien Bourdais who has said the Canadian's contract proved insurmountable.

Theissen said those talks did not amount to much.

"They were never really serious. We checked out the situation about several drivers but they were not serious negotiations. We pretty soon focused on Jacques."

"We haven't been under time pressure. Nick was confirmed and we will only have one car up until mid-January so we took our time," added Theissen, speaking by telephone from BMW's end of season party in Seefeld, Austria.

"We waited for the end of the season and then analysed Jacques' performance over the season.

"It was clear that he had a poor first half but then improved. He caught up and in the second half was on the level of his team mate."

BMW, who are allowed to run a third car in Friday practice after Sauber finished eighth in the 2005 standings, have yet to announce their third driver.

"Nothing is fixed, that's the next thing we deal with," said Theissen. "We have options in both directions, a young promising guy or an experienced test driver."

BMW have also lost the services of Austrian Franz Tost, the track operations manager recruited by Red Bull as the new boss of their Scuderia Toro Rosso.

Theissen said the impact of that would be minimal:

"It won't hurt the team because actually we had two people who could do the same job of team manager, Beat Zender and Franz Tost. Beat will stay in this position for the future."

Theissen expected champions Renault and runners-up McLaren to again be the strongest teams, at least early on.

"But then it can change...over the years we have experienced more progress over a season than over the winter. It might be different this year with the regulations changing but this could carry some surprises as well."

Teams are entering new territory next year with the change from 3.0 litre V10 engines to smaller 2.4 litre V8s.