Patrick Faure, President of the RenaultF1 team, has admitted that signing on 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve to help them win back second place in the constructor’s battle from the British American Racing team, was the wrong decision.
Villeneuve has been out of the sport for almost twelve months, however the Canadian driver was constantly working on his fitness levels to ensure he would be physically ready if he got the long awaited call to return to the pinnacle of Motorsports.
As Faure explained, they thought he could jump into the cockpit and instantly start scoring the points they desperately needed, but the series has changed a lot since Jacques last competed at the USGP in 2004 and while it was a success from the fans point of view to have their hero competing again, for their objectives, it was an error to put him in the car.
"I must admit, I think we made a mistake," he told Eurosport. "Flavio Briatore and I probably underestimated the effect of ten months out, even for a world champion driver. We thought that a world champion with his experience and talent could immediately come back and fight for points. But F1 has changed in the last year. It is faster, the pilots experience even greater G-forces. Physically, he needed many more months of competition to get back to the highest level. He was the first to recognise that when we spoke. It had many good repercussions for Formula One, but on a sporting level it was not a success. Clearly, we made an error."
In the three races he contested for the French based squad, Villeneuve failed to secure any points at all.
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