Thursday 1 December at 13:22 : The BMW team remained mum about it's contract with Jacques Villeneuve for an inordinately long time. This sparked a silly season frenzy as speculation ran rife - most notably that promising rookie Heikki Kovalainen will be on loan from Renault for all of two years. That rumour, of course, was squashed in no uncertain terms when Renault confirmed the Finn as test driver for 2006 not long ago.
On 1 December BMW finally confirmed the 1997 World Champion as official race driver alongside highly-rated Nick Heidfeld. Comments BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen : "We took a close look at Jacques' performance level at the end of last season. After an extremely tough first half of the year - which showed that even a former World Champion cannot come back after a period away and be competitive from day one - he got closer and closer to his team-mate over the second half of the season. We are in no doubt that Jacques will make the BMW Sauber F1 Team stronger."
BMW's reluctance to confirm the Canadian was an obvious indication that they were trying to somehow get out of the two-year contract that Peter Sauber signed. As far as Villeneuve was concerned it was a non-issue - he had a contract and the Button-gate saga demonstrated in no uncertain terms that contracts still mean something in Formula 1. Considering BMW's efforts the question of whether or not they have made the right decision must obiously be raised. His performance during the 2005 season was not exactly awe-inspiring, being consistently beaten by the quick but often wayward Massa -contrary to most predictions.
Looking only at his outright speed over the 2005 season, however, is seriously myopic to say the least. There are other factors at play here - some of which are arguably more important than sheer pace. The first and most obvious one is Villeneuve's improvement towards the end of the season, as mentioned by Dr Theissen. Jacques was out of F1 for a whole year and F1 is not a game you can afford to leave for too long. Precious few have managed to leave the sport for even the shortest time and return immediately competitive and all too many have tried. Even the likes of Nigel Mansell could not make a successful return. It could be argued that a full season is not too much to ask to get back in it.
Secondly is the fact that Villeneuve has been through the process of a team being bought and transformed into a new team. He knows the process, the pitfalls and the headaches and his input is potentially invaluable. He is traditionally hot-headed and critical for sure but his insight is nonetheless useful.
Then there is the matter of continuity. While many of the staff members of the Sauber team have been retained, a great majority of key management will be new - most crucially the man at the helm of the team as Peter Sauber steps down. The last thing you need in this situation is two new drivers. Heidfeld has already been confirmed and he was away from the team for a year - making him effectively just that - a new driver. Villeneuve will serve as a good comparison point to last year's machine and the engineers will know what to expect from him in terms of technical feedback.
Then last but not least is the issue of cost. The fact that his contract was solid is not in dispute - the protracted reluctance from BMW Motorsport to say anything on the issue serves as silent testament to that. Getting out of the contract then, would have cost significant amounts of money. What rookie, no matter how promising, no matter how much sponsorship he brings to the team, is worth that amount of money? What rookie, when you get right down to the heart of the matter, is worth that much
more than Jacques Villeneuve? Is there someone out there who could conceivably be so much quicker that the team would finish even one rung higher on the constructor's table, for instance? Despite the loss of Villeneuve's experience? Somehow I doubt the ability of anyone convincing themselves of that.
The verdict is this then: BMW wasted valuable track time in which Villeneuve could have tested, honed his skills some more, continued to improve, got acquinted with the developing car and especially the V8 engine, all the while providing testing feedback that would allow the team to adjust the design of the car more to his driving style, giving him more of a chance next season. Sense has certainly prevailed - even if it took rather a ridiculous amount of time to do so.
It is now up to the man himself to prove that he deserved this chance. It will not be easy against Quick Nick - who showed up the highly rated Mark Webber as nothing more than a fast qualifier who could not keep pace with his team-mate come race day...
Edu de Jager
DailyF1News.com
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