By Phil Huff (19/05/2003)
May 19 2003

Lucky Strike BAR Honda driver Jenson Button had a happy Austrian Grand Prix, finishing a best-ever fourth, but for Jacques Villeneuve things didn't go quite so 'wheel'. Lucky Strike BAR Honda driver Jenson Button had a happy Austrian Grand Prix, for Jacques Villeneuve things didn't go quite so 'wheel'.

JV finished the race down in 12th place after an appalling second pitstop, caused by a faulty steering wheel. The electronics on his high-tech steering wheel failed on the first lap of the race, meaning he had no control over the car's electronic systems, and it was this that led to his stalling in the pit lane.

"We had a problem all the way through the race because the electronics on the steering stopped working on the first lap," said Villeneuve. "I had no limiter button, no idea of which gear I was in, no neutral - no nothing. I had to do it all manually. My race engineer was even counting my speed down for me coming into the pits! Then the electronics problem caused a stall at the second pitstop."

During the first pitstop, Villeneuve was offered a new steering wheel, but this was rejected by the 1997 World Champions. "It can mess up the electronics, but after the car stalled we changed it then had to wait for the system to reset. It was a fairly disastrous stop and I lost a lot of time. When you lose a lap because of mechanical problems there isn't much you can do."

This is just the latest in a long line of mechanical gremlins that only seem to affect Villeneuve's car.

"I've had problems in four races out of six now and it's obviously very frustrating," says Villeneuve. "It's a great shame because it will be difficult for us to get a car that's better than this in race trim. It felt really great. We keep getting a very good set-up for the race but I haven't been able to make the most of it. I'll just have to continue working hard and hopefully things will come good for me soon."