JV: Button must earn my respect

JV and JB: Divided?
By Phil Huff
January 15 2003

Jacques Villeneuve has warned new team-mate Jenson Button that he will have to earn his respect on the track, and not in the pages of 'lifestyle' magazines.

Button arrives at BAR in 2003 with a reputation as one of the brightest prospects in the sport but 1997 world champion Villeneuve says the young Brit still has everything to prove.

And Villeneuve, who has a reputation for out-psyching team-mates, admitted he would have no hesitation in going for the jugular if Button failed to convince him.

Speaking at the launch of the BAR 005 in Barcelona, he said: "The key thing is do you respect your team mate or not? If you do respect him, like was the case with Olivier [Panis, Button’s predecessor at BAR] then everything works fine and nobody gets destroyed in the process.

"But if you don't respect your team mate then it just happens on its own basically. You can't help yourself."

Asked about how he had got on with Button so far, Villeneuve replied: "There isn't any relationship yet so there's no positive or negative."

"I will respect him once he goes quicker on the racetrack. That's the only way you respect another race car driver at all. Some drivers will be fast but very, very weak and then you don't respect them either."

"I believe it's a job where it's important to be strong. If the car breaks down, don't break into tears and stuff like that like you see sometimes happening to some drivers. That's one thing that I have a hard time to respect. So yes, human strength is probably more important for respect than pure speed."

That pretty much covers the whole grid then, Jacques.

Team boss David Richards acclaimed Button as a future world champion when he signed for the team last year.

Asked whether he thought Button was the right man for the job, Villeneuve replied: "If he steps up from his first three years, yes. If not, no."

Button seemed unfazed by Villeneuve’s remarks, adding: "All my team-mates have been pretty tough.

"I think Jacques and I will work together as team-mates. We will share information. I am sure there are going to be times when we don't get along but there will be times when we work well together.

"We talk, we get on alright. But I want to do the best job I can on the circuit and we need to work together to move the team forward. If outside the circuit we do not talk it's not a big thing for me as we all have our own friends."