Formula One news

Season was hard - Villeneuve

As he hopes his future will still be in F1 now that BMW has taken over the Sauber team, Jacques Villeneuve has reflected on the past season in which he initially struggled, but then began pulling out some very strong drives.

"In terms of performances, 2005 was quite hard," Villeneuve said. "We didn't have a quick car from the start and there were no major evolutions during the year so we had to work very hard to improve the performances with setup work."

"On this particular point, I am extremely happy with the job we've done this year," he added. "Looking at lap times and comparing them to Felipe's we were able to improve the car by over half a second per lap during the course of the season."

"Of course, things like this are not very visible as we were fighting for positions and not for podiums but it is quite satisfying to have achieved such a strong job," he concluded.

BMW has confirmed Nick Heidfeld as a driver next season, but has not commented on Villeneuve's position.

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