Villeneuve faces axe ahead of home GP

There can be no greater insult for a Formula One driver than to be classified as slow. When your employer makes the assessment, the humiliation is complete. That was the fate of Jacques Villeneuve, whose Formula One career continued to unravel yesterday on the red carpet rolled out for his homecoming here.

Normally the most reserved of team principals, Peter Sauber cast aside restraint with a damning summary of the man he brought back to grand prix racing after a year on the sidelines.

Following the debacle of Monte Carlo, where Sauber described Villeneuve's ill-advised attempt to pass his team-mate, Felipe Massa, as one of the most disappointing episodes he had endured in F1, the post-Nurburgring attack had something of the death knell about it.

"Jacques goes too slow. It is difficult to find the cause. It represents a problem we must solve internally," Sauber said. The solution may come sooner rather than later. Probably in the shape of the axe. Though Villeneuve took the diplomatic route when questioned about Sauber's remarks, he accepted his future looked bleak.

"I feel I'm still one of the better drivers. If I did not think that I would not have come back.

"When this kind of thing gets into the public domain it also shows a weakness in the team. If it continues like it has there won't be many chances for me," Villeneuve said. More at Telegraph.co.uk