Reigning F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve failed to improve on his dismal
start to the season, retiring from the Argentine GP after a collision with
David Coulthard.
The Canadian admitted to hitting the Scot's
McLaren at the Senna Chicane,
but refused to acknowledge that he was wholly to blame for the incident.
Nevertheless, his retirement sees him return to the European portion of the
calendar with a mere two points from three races. Villeneuve has also been
outqualified at each race by team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen - which was
only a rare occurrence in 1997.
Here Villeneuve enjoys a piece of birthday cake from his engineer Jock Clear on his 27th Birthday which he celebrated on the Thursday before the Argentinian Grand Prix.
