http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/79058

I am a big fan of Jacques Villeneuve, as a driver and specially for saying what others don't have courage to.

I liked everything he said in this interview. WHat's your opinion about it?

Like himself?

I'd say yes. I get the feeling 2010 is going to be another 2007. If so then awesome!

More characters, less Villeneuves.

You know, I'm getting the real unspoken sense that Jacques considers himself to be the kind of character that he thinks Formula One needs. He couldn't have lampshaded it any better if he had tried.

I think Formula One has all the character it needs in Sebastian Vettel. Seriously, if the cars were powered by a driver's entertainment value, Vettel would have lapped everyone in every single race while driving a Toro Rosso.

Who would you call a "character" in F1 today? Raikkonen probably comes close, but he needs to develop a personality...

Since when has JV ever hidden between the lines?

BTW I'm going to see "Them Crooked Vultures" next week.

I get to see them in January when the come down here.

Hmm, I'm off-topic. But that begs the question: can you be off-topic when there never was a topic to begin with?

Jack Newton can drive. Can he land a drive? I dunno. Rubens is still driving.

Be mindful that he WANTS to drive. I get the feeling that some drivers on the grid today don't want to drive but that it's just what they do. I like hungry drivers. They do amazing stuff sometimes.

Mansell was hungry. Then he ate too much.

what exactly does Villenueve mean by "characters"?? how does he measures the level of "character"...
yes i saw the comment about needing meaner competition... what does he want?

drivers seeking the press to intimidate each other? like boxers do in the build up to fights?

do we need moronic exchanges like he and Montoya had at the Canadian GP like:
"Say that again and I'll put you in that f***ing wall!"
"Say that again and I'll put you in that f***ing tree!"


how many characters were around during his tenure in F1? has he been specific about it apart from naming MS?

this guy just has so many dumb unfounded arguments, empty and hollow comments that it starts to look pathetic.

in fact he looks pretty desperate to me not willing to see that his time as an F1 driver and potential WDC has come to an end.

i'd have much more respect for him if he went into driver management or something like that... looking for and promoting Canadian racing talent

F1's character days are gone of the likes of James Hunt.

Eddie Irvine, Alesi, MS of course, JPM. Stick those guys and Jack in a small room with a bunch of Crown Royal and shyte would go down.

nicely done

Fixed.

You know ole Jacques got a bum wrap in 2003. If you take out all the times his crappy car broke down and the times that Jenson's car broke down you are left with this:

Jenson Button 10 4 8 8
Jacques Villeneuve 9 12* 10 9

*12? His steering wheel went dead and he didn't have antistall. He stalled in the pits. He was on par with Jenson most of the time. The guy can race, it been debated a million times. Is he tool old? Too outspoken? Probably. But he's right. F1 is boring when the stewards bring all the excitement. Mind you Interlagos last year was quite fun.

I personally don't think a team would hire him unless he offers to race for hotel, airfare and food. And I bet money he's offering that. I'd pay him $1 to race my car all day long. the press from that alone would be immense.

Is it me or he seems to miss Schumacher?

It's almost like him saying give me a Schumacher type of gladiator character any day over the guys who are there now.

Partially agree. I do think Hamilton, Alonso and Kimi are quite the characters though. I'm no Hammy fan, but he is ruthless and determined to win, even if it means playing dirty. Just what JV wants. It's just that in his comments he's veryu much the RD trained corporate speaker. As for Kimi: he's not the extraverted type but definitely a non-corporate, authentic character. And as for Alonso; He will do anything to win. On and off track.

Vettel has the potential, and on track mentality, but is just a plain nice guy. No problem with that. As for the others? I tend to agree with Jacques. But then again, even in his days the grid wasn't full of characters. Alesi, JPM, MS, Irvine, Mika, himself and that's about it I guess.

I was a huge JVi fan, but not sure I want him back in F1 again... Would rather see him enjoying himself in some other series, just sliding around and having fun!!

Times change. In 2020 we're going to say "F1 needs more characters, remember Raikkonen, Massa, Hamilton and Alonso! Those where characters!"
It never changes.

FI needs more Characters? --> Sure, why not? Would add to the entertainment
Would having more Characters 'fix' F1? --> No. F1's problems lie elsewhere. The racing / sporting aspects need far more attention.

JV's statement seems to lay too much importance on personalties.

Just exactly what makes MS a "character"?

Characters can be fun in the periods between races, but they add zero to the actual race which is what it's supposed to be about.

He was the most talked about, most divesive driver of his era and in fact he is still talked about a lot. Wether you liked him or not he is a character. It seems even JV misses somebody like him now.

He was talked about because of his questionable incidents and because of his success. Jerez, Monaco, Adelaide etc. Does that make him a character?

I'm not looking to put down MS, simply trying to understand how people define characters.

Is character defined on the track or off the track?

On and off the track. But because we are in F1 it cannot be seperated. What JV talked about was that he liked gladiators. MS was definitely one.

People seem to think characters are only those who are jokers or who are temperamental. I disagree with that.

MS seems to have an aura around him, which gathers people around him in a team and his people were almost "in love" with him everywhere he went. That's a character.

Lack of character is a character as well. Schumacher tried never to be emotional to the public and succeeded at this many times.

Many drivers copied this I think.

What is exactly "lack of character"?

Not showing any. When did Schumacher make a joke to someone of the press? When did he say "Yeah my wife makes great spaghetti"? When did he showed ANYTHING of family in public?

He barely showed his human side. That's why Damon Hill called him a robot (and that's why Schumacher perfectly fit with the Stig )

Maybe now that McLaren look less likely to sign Kimi they will hire Villeneuve instead? Jacques is the only one that can sing songs to his engineers and the whole team to motivate them. This could be just what McLaren need to beat Alonso in a Ferrari.

villeneuve said

"There is a huge lack of excitement," said Villeneuve, who flew in for a visit to last weekend's Singapore Grand Prix. "They are all lovey-dovey. They are all best friends. There are no gladiators. When I watch sport I want to see battle, I want to see gladiators going at it.

"I am not saying they should kill each other, that is not the point, but they should want to outperform the others in a mean way. That has to be driving you, and it doesn't seem to be driving anyone out there. It is amazing."

I ask: was Jerez 1997 fun, Jacques?, also Adelaide1994

For me it was

I so much preferred his father to him.

Jacques, let me explain something to you chum.
Having an intense rivalry with your fellow competitors on track, while remaining civil, polite and friendly off track, comes under the heading of, "SPORTSMANSHIP".

He always was a nasty little man.

Actually he talked a lot about his family in interviews where it was fitting. Obviously not in interviews when he felt it's not the time or place to talk about that, but when it was a more casual interview he did talk a lot about private matters or interests. Eg:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7NLjSXKstc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8fS63dQHS8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td-BsWD8LZ4

Yep, that's why I said he seems to miss MS and kind of admire his mentality.

Partially agree. Racing is of course the most important thing, but it helps to have some colour in between.
His comment on Piquet jr:

was gold!

Agree with what JV says but I want to see drivers do their talking on the track not off it

If more "characters" means 20 Eddie Irvine's then no thanks, Most people thought Irvine was a great character I thought he was a self important gobshite

I assume you mean MS by this.

Funny isn't it, I didn't think Villeneuve was a character at all.

He did the minimum amount of PR possible, took the big money ride to nowhere wtih BAR and was a seriously nasty little bastard to some of his teammates.

Yeah when are we ever going to get the driver who wears overalls that are 4 sizes too small?

It was probably made up but I heard that Olivier Panis sat in a particular chair in the BAR canteen and Jacques kicked up a fuss about it as it was "his chair" and he wanted it and he had Panis forcibly removed from the chair by Pollock's henchmen or something, bit petty if true

Yep, add to that tipping Ricardo Zonta's lunch in the garbage when Zonta was five minutes late.

Lying to Heinz Harald Frentzen about tyre performance after testing.

Saying Jenson Button was best suited to a boyband at BAR in 2003.

He's a dickhead.

I think he also means drivers that provoke strong opinions. So JV defintely a character

Think of him sat on the side of the circuit and this is a tribute to JV.

I agree with JV. F1 has far too few characters at the moment. So many drivers just have to smile a lot and say nothing and then everyone goes on about how "nice" they are. I don't want them to be "nice"...they are not my friends, as long as they are nice to their families then that is fine by me. That said it does look as if 2010 might be far more fun. If it's anything like 2007...bring it on!

Oh, and come back Jacques...I've missed you!

F1 needs more overtaking on the track, less equalization, and whilst I am not sure what else F1 could use, I think definitely we do not need a Canadian yodel in a paddock of his kind.

Someone please put Villeneuve and Montoya in 1 team. Or Paul Tracy.

He knows he can not bring in speed ;)

I had this doubt about opening a thread just to discuss this, but now reading some nice posts, I thinks it was worthy.

Jacquess is nothing like his father

I always felt that Kimi is actually very simmilar to Gilles. Ofcourse Gilles didnt drink (although I fing Kimis alcocholism to be completely exaggerated) but all other aspects are simmilar.
It is true Kimi lost motivation lately, but we never know if Gilles would lose his motivation also. Just imagine if Kimi was killed in 2005 in that crash at Nurburgring. We would never encounter post 2005 Kimi (the one who doesnt care about F1 anymore) and we would remember his as fierce competitor always gunning for the win.
The presonal life, well both enjoed riding snowscooters and both were interested in music, both actually played trumpet very well.

At least for me Kimi is new Gilles. So up yours, Jacqe, we already have an awesome character in F1, we do not need you, we never did actually. Imo you drove two brilliant races Elkhart lake 1994 and Indy 1995, after that nothing, you won only because you had an awesome car. And yet you drag the championship all the way to the last round putting it in jeopardy. Even in 1995 you dragged it to laguna seca. And BTW, what was all thet hair bleeching about? You looked like an idiot at magny cours 1997 with that hairstyle, AND drivig style. You sir are full of sh*t.

It's not a matter of 'need' but his return would be really good for the sport.

This isn't the first time JV's spoken of this in an interview.

When he won the WDC I was somewhat of a JV fan. He was new, he was fast, and he beat the evil MS. That was good enough for me. I've never seen him as anything like his father though. His father manhandled the cars beyond what they seemed capable of doing. To me, JV was fast, smooth, and what the modern day (well modern day in the late 1990s) F1 car required.

The BAR years started impressively enough in spite of his being in a pig of a car, but later began a slide into mediocre performances that often seemed uninspired. Forget the fanboy excuses and analysis that propped him up. His last years had competitive moments but he almost never again dominated a teammate. His actions at Indy one year when he basically decided that hanging out with his squeeze inn the pits was more important than driving the car pretty much finished off the remnants of my enthusiasm for him. Was that when Alonzo out-qualified him in the Minardi? I'm going from memory here so please correct me if I'm wrong.

Characters? F1 needs characters no more than it needs knock out qualifying or any one of the other things we've had to supposedly make the "show" better. This idea that somehow talking shit... excuse me, "telling it like it is" will make F1 better or even more interesting doesn't mean much to me. Better racing would make F1 better.

If he makes it back into an F1 car, I wish him all the best, but please, I hope his driving does the speaking rather than his mouth.

lol. would be nice to see shyguy back again.

F1 doesn't need more "characters" just for the sake of having them. Having "characters" could bring all sorts of good or bad implications. Michael Vick is a "character", Chad Johnson is a "character", Terrel Owens is a "character (all American Football players, google them and you'll get an idea). I'm not sure if F1 would do well to have any of them.

If the drivers had more leeway to speak their minds and the F1 press didn't twist and/or manipulate every mini-story, I think drivers and teams wouldn't be so scared of showing more "character".