Out of the glaring spotlight that followed him around Canada, Jacques Villeneuve is free to focus on getting on with his rocky Formula One season.
His first task is tackling the US Grand Prix, held on the track that helped launch his F1 career. Ten years ago, Villeneuve came from two laps down to win the Indianapolis 500, and he parlayed it into a seat in the most exclusive racing series in the world.
But his return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday was no anniversary party. The Canadian driver is at a crossroads in his career because of underwhelming results in his first season driving for the Sauber-Petronas team.
PHOTO: EPA
If things don't improve, Villeneuve could be out of a job for good. This is his third F1 team, and many consider him lucky to have landed it: He sat out all but the final three races of last season when he couldn't land a seat with any of the top level teams.
The speculation reached a frenzy last weekend at the Canadian Grand Prix, where Villeneuve was mobbed by the press everywhere he went. Finally out of his hometown, he was looking forward to a more easygoing atmosphere in Indy.
"It is definitely a lot calmer than it was in Montreal, not nearly as hectic," Villeneuve said. "It is nice here. Very relaxed. There are still quite a few American fans supporting me because I won the Indy 500. So the welcome here is always very nice."
Villeneuve is a national hero in Canada, where his father, the late Gilles Villeneuve, was a revered F1 racer But his 1995 win in the Indy 500 is what launched his career.
He was leading the race when he was penalized for pacing the pace car, dropping him to 24th in the field and two laps down. But he battled back to win the race, then closed the season by winning the Champ Car season title.
"The Indy 500 was the pinnacle of Jacques career," said Craig Pollock, Villeneuve's manager.
To this day, Villeneuve credits that victory for paving his way into F1.
Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone badly wanted a North American driver in the series, and encouraged the Williams team to hire Villeneuve in 1996. Villeneuve exploded onto the series, becoming the first driver to win a pole and podium finish in his debut.
He went on to win four races that year, reached the podium 11 times, and finished with 78 points -- all rookie records that still stand today. He won the world championship a year later.
But he left Williams to drive for British American Racing, a startup team formed by his manager. He spent a rocky five years there as the team struggled amid infighting between Pollock and the other partners.
It led to a bitter parting between Villeneuve and BAR at the end of 2003, and few of the top teams would touch him.
He eventually landed a two-year deal with Sauber, a relationship that has not gotten off to the best start. Villeneuve's fourth-place finish in San Marino is his only points finish of the year.
Then, heading into Canada last weekend, Sauber began to voice criticism leading to speculation that Villeneuve would be fired before the season ended.
Even Ecclestone, long Villeneuve's chief cheerleader, piled on by telling AP that Villeneuve had "lost his motivation."
Ecclestone didn't back down from that on Friday, but said that part of the blame rested on Sauber.
"I just said he's got to get going, and he did," Ecclestone told the AP, referring to Villeneuve's eighth-place qualifying effort in Canada. "He's got to get motivated. He's got a lot of talent, and I don't believe he's lost his talent.
"But he needs to get in a team that is behind him and can win. That team can't win. He's sort of stuck in neutral there."
But team boss Peter Sauber only has to point to the success of driver Felipe Massa, who has outperformed Villeneuve in almost every race this season.
Last week, Villeneuve qualified three spots ahead of Massa, only to wreck on the first lap and struggle to a ninth-place finish -- one spot out of the points.
Massa, meanwhile, drove to a solid fourth-place finish.
"Jacques has to get faster," Sauber said. "That's all there is to it. His qualifying effort must be better."
Indy might be just the right place to get Villeneuve back in high gear.
Juan Pablo Montoya again was the quickest driver, and this time there was no red stoplight to slow down the Colombian.
Montoya, disqualified while leading the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal last week, was the fastest on Friday in each of the first two sessions of practice for today's race.
His top lap on the 4.1km, 13-turn road course was 1 minute, 11.118 seconds (131.860mph, 212.162kph), just ahead of McLaren teammate Kimi Raikkonen, the winner at Montreal. Ferrari teammates Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher were next.
"Every year, I've come so close to winning this race, and something has always gone wrong," Montoya said. "So it would be nice to come here once and get a pretty quiet weekend and a good result."
Montoya, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 2000 before joining Formula 1, has started no worse than fifth in four previous US GPs. His best finish in the USGP was fourth in 2002, and his last pole at any track was in the German Grand Prix two years ago.
Raikkonen's top speed was 211.836kph. Barrichello had a fast lap at 210.307kph, followed by Schumacher at 210.270kph and Nick Heidfeld at 210.074kph.
NEW ENGINES
Thirteen of the 20 USGP starters will have new engines today.
To cut costs, Formula One this year required engines to last two races. The seven with still one race left before they may replace their old engines are McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, Toyota's Ralf Schumacher, Sauber's Felipe Massa and Jacques Villeneuve, BAR's Jenson Button and Takuma Sato, and Minardi's Christijan Albers.
The Petronas engines in the two Sauber cars needed repairs to their water pumps, which were fixed under FIA supervision on Thursday.
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