Does Villeneuve still have IT?

PoweredByHonda · 2 Nov 2001, 05:26 (Ref:168595)

Recently, I've read a lot of articles saying that Jacques Villeneuve has lost his racing touch, or that he was just a flash in the pan during his early Williams days...
Personally I think it's a load of Rubbish but people don't really consider Villeneuve a top driver anymore? Any Oppinions? I think he still can go toe to toe with Michael it's just that the BAR is a piece of junk... Put Villeneuve in the Maclaren this year and he would have won the championship... Ok that's a little extreme but I do think he would have managed better than DC's pathetic showing... He would have at least taken Schumacher to the wire... Or maybe I'm just bitter that he's stuck in a sh|t car and has made all the bad career choices, ie. Leave Williams and Turn down Maclaren for a new team(BAR), Refuse a fat contract with a soon to be factory team Renault....

Aye aye... the joys of being a Villeneuve fan

timbo2001 · 2 Nov 2001, 05:50 (Ref:168597)

Yeah, i think villeneuve still has the talent to win gps. i don't think he is as good as shumacher, but surely as good as many other current top drivers, ie coulthard, hakkinen, barichello. Sure enough, when he came into GP racing he had probably the best car under him, but even so to do so well is still saying something. Give him a car that suits his style a little more, and i am sure we would see some better performances from him. it seems that this year's bar better suited panis, and it has been quite clear from the comments that jaques made at the start of the year that the bar is not up to standard. i would like to see him perform a little better, at least then we would have somebody with half a personality at the front.

f1manoz · 2 Nov 2001, 06:17 (Ref:168601)

Quote:

Originally posted by PoweredByHonda
Leave Williams and Turn down Maclaren for a new team(BAR), Refuse a fat contract with a soon to be factory team Renault....

Put that down to one of two things:

1. Stupidity and bad management - really, are BAR ever going to succeed, even with Honda?? And to turn down a McLaren drive (when he was offered at least) and the Renault offer was not the smartest decision in the world.

2. Simple, unadulterated GREED. He's getting paid millions of dollars, is pampered by Pollock and at the end of this year was hardly focused on the job at hand.

JV still has talent in abundance, but he has to get out of BAR to become a race-winner again. Otherwise he will soon be an also-ran.

badoer fan · 2 Nov 2001, 08:06 (Ref:168617)

I think Villeneuve is one of the best drivers out there, but (controversial statement coming up) I think Panis is better.

Red · 2 Nov 2001, 08:15 (Ref:168618)

ooops, sorry, wrong thread

Super Tourer · 2 Nov 2001, 08:19 (Ref:168620)

Hold on, Hold on!

I believe JV has advertised to the world that hehis an incomplete racing driver. F1 is about much more than the banzai driving style that JV displays. He is a 'one-trick' magician.

Why? JV has had the opportunity to do what MS did at Ferrari and build a team solely around himself, have the car and infrastructure of the team totally to his own requirements.

Instead he has shown that he does not have the ability to develop a car, or 'lead' the team in the right direction (a MS speciality). His pace has been flattered by a selection of poor BAR team mates until Panis came along. As a result JV doesn't even make the top 10 in the Motoring News GP review.

He is the team leader and has free input at BAR the fact that the car's are no good and the team aimless in direction is as much down to him as anybody.

Sorry JV you've been found out. A great driver in a totally perfect car (Williams '97), other wise midfield. Here's a ponderer would he have gone as well as Kimi in this years Sauber?

Alan Jones · 2 Nov 2001, 09:26 (Ref:168638)

For me JV did an incredible job in his first couple of years in F1. Good car or not, he was competitive from the first race which is quite an achievement when you look at Juan's performance this year. It's a big step from an Indy car to F1,later braking wise especially and he rose to the challenge. While i agree that money would have to be a factor, JV has stated that he wants to take BAR to the top of the tree and this is his main focus . BS or not, he obviously hasn't been offered enough money to leave has he?

As a fan I just wish he was in a more competitive car, IMO he has the "goods" to go all the way again and has a ego that doesn't let the reputation of Michael stand in his way , like my good friend Juan

**Aysedasi** · 2 Nov 2001, 10:30 (Ref:168661)

I'm sure JV's computer skills and equipment are second to none!!

enemy-ace · 2 Nov 2001, 12:11 (Ref:168710)

Quote:

Originally posted by Super Tourer
Why? JV has had the opportunity to do what MS did at Ferrari and build a team solely around himself, have the car and infrastructure of the team totally to his own requirements.

I don't really think that you can compare Scumacher's situation at Ferrari with Villeneuves at BAR. Schumacher went to a team with a decent car and he brought his Benneton team with him. While Villeneuve started at BAR with himself and his engineer and a car designer new to F1 and a team principle who is also on the learning curve. While Schumacher did an excellent job at Ferrari, Villeneuve's challenge was far greater.
I think JV still has what it takes to be champion again, he just needs to focus more. I'm pretty sure you'll see a stronger BAR team this coming year.

renaultbel · 2 Nov 2001, 12:27 (Ref:168718)

Maybe he have the heart like Alesi "always follow the way of his heart"

Inigo Montoya · 2 Nov 2001, 13:35 (Ref:168740)

Jacques, like DC, should be complemented for the parade of ever more beautiful babes he brings to the paddock... His latest is some 19 year old ballerina, to who he is now 'engaged' <we'll see>.

Perhaps if he'd leave the jailbait chasing alone, he might recover his (modest) talents.

BootsOntheSide · 2 Nov 2001, 13:43 (Ref:168751)

I think Honda have let BAR and Jordan down very seriously this year. I think if they'd've had the Petronas supply both teams would have bettered Sauber, which is a real inditement on Honda. I would hope that any physical or mental after effects of the Australian crash will be gone by the start of 2002, even for a natural gung-ho racer it will have been a shock to him. he did generally outperform Panis, though nto by as much as I expected.

jiggly_puff · 2 Nov 2001, 15:10 (Ref:168799)

i think jv still has it....in my opinion he is a true racer, at points in the season just gone he has proved to be quite strong and reliable - the team is improving maybe next year he will be able to reprove himself to f1! because he does have the talent!

PoweredByHonda · 2 Nov 2001, 16:33 (Ref:168853)

Quote:

Originally posted by badoer fan
I think Villeneuve is one of the best drivers out there, but (controversial statement coming up) I think Panis is better.

You CAN"T honestly tell me that Panis is better than Villeneuve? Let's do a comparison of this year in the same equipment....
Villeneuve, I think 12 points, 2 podiums, Panis, 5 points, no podiums...
I'm not saying that Panis is not a good racer, i think he's one of the better ones, but surely not as good as Villeneuve... Your talking about a 11 time GP winner and former world champion against a guy who's only ever won one GP and that was a fluke...

jiggly_puff · 2 Nov 2001, 16:55 (Ref:168869)

yeah panis is a bit of a flukey driver.........he ain't all that!

Number Juan · 2 Nov 2001, 18:15 (Ref:168902)

i think that villeneuve has lost that something that he had in abundance when he first came into f1. when he first blasted in, he was a lot like Montoya: sharp, fast, good and a straight talking "gun ho" attitude to most things. i think that moving to BAR was a bad decision because he has become complacent and stuck in a vicous circle...money and a safe drive. he still has the talent of michael schumacher but he's lost the inner fire. if he found that, im sure we would see the old JV again...p.s panis is good, but not as good as JV!!!

Ferrari Girl · 2 Nov 2001, 18:30 (Ref:168906)

Noooooo, he hasnt lost it!
He will win another WDC before he finishes, he HAS to.

srinimax · 2 Nov 2001, 18:55 (Ref:168914)

i think villeneuve definitely has it in him to win another wdc. if honda can get their acto together, he's going to be real good. not for nothing was he rookie of the year and cart champ and then went on to repeat the feat in f1 ! i think he should switch teams.

Ralf's Girl · 2 Nov 2001, 20:56 (Ref:168960)

I don't think he does still have "it" - there was always part of me that thought even though he was a good driver, a large proportion of his success at Williams was down to the superior car. As soon as Williams started to go downhill in 1998, he fell off the pace and he hasn't looked anything like a winner since then. There have been times when he has shown that talent again, but for the most part I see him as a midfield driver now.

Jay · 2 Nov 2001, 23:03 (Ref:169032)

I'm not sure what's left in him...

Winning the world championship in ANY car takes a great driver... Especially when your teammate (HHF) can barely keep the car pointed in the right direction...was it such a great car? Yes it was, all I'm saying that there was obviously a lot of talent that took it to the 1997 WDC.

I've been quite disapointed with what's happened to him at BAR. Whether Villeneuve still has what it takes to win or not will never be seen as long as he's driving a car that would probably just rival the Minardi's if Honda wasn't involved..lol Anyway, BAR are getting a number of new Engineers...hopefully this will help.. It's my personal opinion, but the guys who design the car play a much larger role than the driver in determining whether a car will make it to the podium. My guess is that at least 20 of the 22 drivers to finish the season could win races if they were driving a Ferrari...

paulzinho · 2 Nov 2001, 23:17 (Ref:169053)

He's a racer, i'll give him that, its just a question of where will he go after BAR that will determine how the rest of his career goes.

Gt_R · 3 Nov 2001, 02:00 (Ref:169174)

No doubt, JV had impressed in his first year in F1. Strong attitude, race aggressiveness and ability to race his far more experienced team mate.

But i think that he became too over-complacent when he makes his move to BAR. Williams wasn't going anywhere, and none of the top teams want him then. So he had nowhere to go, so to blame him for making a silly move to BAR is not appropriate. But when he sign up at BAR, to meet up with the huge pay increase and meet up with his old friends, he and them had totally under-estimated the difficulty. Remember their pre-season adverts..."tradition of excellence" and talks of them being champions...

It's quite apparent that JV wants to do "a Michael" in BAR. But on one hand, while he has a tougher job on-hand since BAR is starting from scratch, on the other, JV doesnt quite seem to have the ability to take lead and direct the team towards the right direction while building a morale to kill all internal political mess. And the lack of results have really killed off some of JV's edge and fighting edge. I am sure he is far from his best now...

Well...Michael took 5 years to bring Ferrari the WDC, i think we can give JV allowance to have 5 years to win BAR their first race.

aaaahhhhhhh · 3 Nov 2001, 03:59 (Ref:169190)

JV still has it. BAR on the hand does not and never will have it. Time to cut you losses JV and look for a new team for 2003

srinimax · 3 Nov 2001, 18:33 (Ref:169346)

oh yes, totally agree. jv jump to renault or perhaps back to williams will defi see some race wins. championship though is tough. we've seen montoya as the guy who'll probably follow schumi as wdc.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
villeneuve	GreenAdam	Formula One	2	20 Aug 2004 13:30
Do you need Villeneuve in F1?	Jordi	Formula One	51	11 Oct 2003 22:15
Villeneuve	OVERSTEER	Formula One	8	12 Jan 2002 04:49
Why Villeneuve Have The # 10 ?	Farc	Formula One	32	26 May 2001 00:54