Jacques Upset With Team's Testing Decision

By Jamie Makin
April 8 2005

Although the official word from Team SAUBER PETRONAS was that Jacques Villeneuve's unscheduled replacement by Felipe Massa for today's test session was not an indication of the team's lack of faith in him, reports from the track indicated that Villeneuve felt otherwise.

After admitting his struggles to come to grips with the C24 so far this season, Villeneuve was eagerly awaiting this week's test session, where he was schedule to drive two out of the three days. The team had planned to focus on his setup issues so that he could be more confident with the car for the next race at Imola. A brake failure sent him to the garage for a portion of yesterday's session and he did not complete his test programme.

Villeneuve issued a statement with his feelings on being replaced after today's test session:

"It was exciting to finally get testing as we had been wanting to work on the car set-up and experiment some new ideas since the Melbourne race. Having had poor winter testing and no testing since the start of the season, Barcelona was an important test for us. Out of the three days planned, I was supposed to drive the first two, allowing us a fair amount of time as there also was a lot a team specific tests to be done on the car. Unfortunately, my engineer and myself did not manage do get through our set-up program and development of new ideas as I suffered a brake failure in the first morning run. The brake pedal went all the way down without actually having the wheels brake - a very rare occurrence but very dangerous. We took all the necessary time to check everything before going out again, losing a valuable half day on the track.

"At this point, with the few hours remaining we judged the "team specific work" a priority (even though we did not have the right set-up or car balance at the time) and we would use the 2nd day to concentrate on speed and set-up related work. We also decided to spend the rest of the day on old tyres, saving the new ones for day two of our test.

"The team then decided at the end of the day (yesterday) to change the testing plan: I was told that it has been predicted bad weather and a lot of rain on Friday, so the team changed the running schedule to allow Felipe to drive on the dry today. Therefore, we did not get the chance to focus on all the set-up work needed in preparation for Imola. It's a shame as new tyres, different fuel loads and a more rubbered track on the second day of the test would have been faster and closer conditions to what the Barcelona race week-end will be.

"I am sure this situation will fire on a new set of rumours but we are used to them and it certainly won't affect our work. At this time we are trying our hardest to get the car on the pace which has been a disappointment to us all so far.

"Sadly, Imola will be a continuation of the first three races instead of getting the step-up we were expecting after a productive test. Another disappointment adding up to the one following Bahrain last weekend where with Giam-Paolo, my engineer, and I started to understand the car better. But hopefully the next test in Fiorano will enable us to concentrate on our work."

Villeneuve can take heart in knowing that Massa's times today were no closer to their rivals than his own from yesterday. However, this is just a sign that the team as a whole is struggling and has a long road to travel if they are to become competitive this season.