| sameerrao |
08-10-2006 05:47 PM |
I was never a Villeneuve fan to begin with ... so I wont miss him that much. But he deserves a better send off than what he got this time as well as in 2004.
Looking back he turned up in his debut year (1996) with an amazing performance at the first race. Took pole and was leading the race till he retired due to car problems. Talk about a meteoric rise. Here was a rookie competing against Damon who had about 3 years of experience driving with Williams by then.
He basically took the world by storm. Even then one could see see elements of his character that marked out him as a man who wanted to be different and was pretty headstrong and opinionated. He and Patrick Head frequently battled over car setups at the races over the 1996-1998 seasons. I think JV wanted a car that was extremely stiffly sprung. At some tracks this was not ideal and Patrick wanted him to change but JV was insistent that his way was right.
Ask Patrick Head about their impressions of JV - they say he made winning the 1997 crown seem more difficult that it really was due to his obstinate nature. The Williams car was far and away the best car in the field in 1996-1997.
Jacques witnessed Michael make a move from an established team to mould a struggling team with proper players and navigate it towards the victory path. In his hubris, Jv though he could do the same. He believed that he could replicate Schumacher's achievements at BAR. The BAR-era was an absolute waste of his skills and it looked like JV had forgotten how to drive a fast car. Even when 2004 rolled in and BAR was regularly gracing the podiums, it was Jenson who was reaping the points and not JV who was pretty much outclassed. Basically JV looked a spent force who was past his sell-by-date.
When JV came back for 3 races in 2005, it looked he was away for 10 years and not 9 months as he seemed to be really slow. Granted it was a new car to him and he hardly got practice but Alonso pretty much made mincemeat of JV.
I was perplexed to see that Peter Sauber picked him then for 2005. He seemed an illogical choice and JV was pretty much slow throughout the year. This year however, I thought Villenueve did a great job pretty much matching Heidfeld (who I thought put Webber down a peg or so last year). It looked like JV's speed was on its way back. But alas Jacques could not really show his true potential.
Anyway, wish him the best of luck for his future. He was a brave driver who wanted to do it his way but ultimately he wasn't in control of his destiny. Au Revoir!
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