Villeneuve 'not given up hope' of F1 return.

The only opporunity he might get would be with Force India.

I think his F1 days are long over.

I think it needs to be pointed out that his time at BMW came to a premature end as he was unwilling and frankly insulted by being asked to compete with Kubica in a 'drive off'. If anyone had to step down it should have been Heidfeld given that JV was beating him up until relations turned sour.

I would love to see him given a few serious tests in an 09 spec car and go from there. If it doesn't work out then so be it.

One things for sure. F1 needs a few characters back and if people like Webber, Coulthard, Fisichella can still warrant a place in F1 then so can Jacques

yes he had a few real good races in 06 before he left. and was showing nick the way in the races.

was a great racer. people also forget in 3rd race at brazil in 04 he had got to grips with that renault too and had a good race pace.

Teams are not that desperate. He was dropped from Toyota first then from BMW.
DC and RB should follow him. F1 is for kids not men in the upper 30s

toyota?

Great to hear JV has the fighting spirit to get back. although unlikley he would be given the chance, it would be great so see some personality back in F1. Drivers like Hamilton and Riekonen are basically robots for for the media.

With no traction control, no ABS and slick tires, JV could show some real racing talent to the young guns.

sat watching Le Mans and he was the slowest driver of all the top LMP cars....not exactly a "come and get me" call.....but then again he'd be brilliant for entertainments sake...I'd pay to see what JV would do to Hamilton should he try his Bahrain antics on him

Jacques needs F1, F1 needs Jacques. Enough said.

Too bad he wasted so many years with BAR and they repaid him with failing brakes, failing wings and general rumour milling of his character. At the end of it all, he was the most loyal driver to his team and stuck with them throughout the low perods without a negative word about it. If he could have rejoined a topflight classy team again we would have been the best competition vs Schumacher throughout the years of Ferarri dominance period.

The LMP cars are a different animal altogether. How many of the top Le Mans drivers have been anywhere near an F1 drive let alone champion. Besides, further analysis of the times and problems of the #7 car paint a very different story.

As Frentzen once said, a motivated JV is a scary thing. He'd certainly ruffle a few feathers.

Jacques drove in the night most of the time and hasn't much experience on the track yet. But he sure was not the slowest of the top flight of cars.

I don't recall him driving for Toyota.

He's got more personality than all the F1 paddock put together and more skill than the other old, past their prime, drivers.

Sorry, it was BAR not Toyota

To take things further. The No 7 Peuegot spent 41 minutes of the 24 hours in the pits comparied the 31 minutes of the winning no 2 Audi. The Peuegots were the quickest through the speedtrap as well. As for them being a different animal they are about 300kilos heavier than an F1 car and as result brake up to 30 metres earlier and as a result are 10 seconds a lap slower than F1 car although they are even in terms of top speed. As much as I would like Vileneuve to back in F1 I doub it will happen. But he looks far more happpier racing sportscars and I reckon he may get a full time ride in sportscars next year possibly in a Peuegeot I reckon.

I've always rated JV highly, I think it was a shame he got bogged down in the BAR team and then dropped by BMW, i also think that if he were in a competitive car he could show some of the young "stars" exactly how its done. He would be a great addition to the F1 paddock, which has become far to pc in recent years imo.

Unfortunately I cant see him getting a top drive in F1, which i think is a terrible shame.

Sports cars is the way forward for JV, I hope he gets a factory drive for next year because he thoroughly deserves it.

I'm a big JV fan, but this won't happen. Good as he was (and maybe is), he didn't have great teambuilding skills. I didn't like Schumacher, but totally admired his ability to build a team around him.

Patrick Head and Jacques butted heads (they wanted the car to do the work, he wanted CART-style stiff), He gave the 2-finger salute to Ron Dennis on the day he won the WC, it's public knowledge about him and Dave Richards, Flav obviously wanted it to work but it didn't, and BMW lost the luster too.

I hope he makes it to NASCAR and earns his way through new series, because he is a great character in motorsports.

I'm a big JV fan, but this won't happen. Good as he was (and maybe is), he didn't have great teambuilding skills. I didn't like Schumacher, but totally admired his ability to build a team around him.

Patrick Head and Jacques butted heads (they wanted the car to do the work, he wanted CART-style stiff), He gave the 2-finger salute to Ron Dennis on the day he won the WC, it's public knowledge about him and Dave Richards, Flav obviously wanted it to work but it didn't, and BMW lost the luster too.

I hope he makes it to NASCAR and earns his way through new series, because he is a great character in motorsports.

I never did understand why JV and Ferrari were never close. I am sure Shu must have been a big factor in that but was there more to it? Does the family have ill feelings towards Ferrari after what happened to Gilles?

This is of course conjecture, but it is fairly well known that Bernie engineered bringing Jacques over to F1 when he did. Since Schumi had already signed for Ferrari and there was an opening at Williams, it apparently made sense. McLaren had just poached DC, and in addition there was a story from Jacques himself that in a Japanese F3 support race (I think), RD came up to JV and told him something along the lines of him not being good enough to ever be in F1.

So that early diss and Jacques predictable reaction burnt the McLaren bridge. The 1997 Jerez controversy probably closed the door to any future Ferrari contracts. He then worked his way through the midfield teams one-by-one.

This is of course conjecture, but it is fairly well known that Bernie engineered bringing Jacques over to F1 when he did. Since Schumi had already signed for Ferrari and there was an opening at Williams, it apparently made sense. McLaren had just poached DC, and in addition there was a story from Jacques himself that in a Japanese F3 support race (I think), RD came up to JV and told him something along the lines of him not being good enough to ever be in F1.

So that early diss and Jacques predictable reaction burnt the McLaren bridge. The 1997 Jerez controversy probably closed the door to any future Ferrari contracts. He then worked his way through the midfield teams one-by-one.

People tend to forget three important things on JV. First the 1996 pole on SPA in a circuit he didn't know, second the best overtaking (alongside with Dijon reovertaking of Gilles V on R Arnoux at the end of the straight) in a F1 race at Estoril/2006 and finnaly a near 2 secs gap in the Australian GP in 1997 against the team mate. Certainly more mechanical grip in 2009 would suit him. F1 world would gain in many senses if he would return. Let's hope so.

People tend to forget three important things on JV. First the 1996 pole on SPA in a circuit he didn't know, second the best overtaking (alongside with Dijon reovertaking of Gilles V on R Arnoux at the end of the straight) in a F1 race at Estoril/2006 and finnaly a near 2 secs gap in the Australian GP in 1997 against the team mate. Certainly more mechanical grip in 2009 would suit him. F1 world would gain in many senses if he would return. Let's hope so.