By Phil Huff (07/05/2003)
May 7 2003

Lucky Strike BAR Honda driver Jacques Villeneuve gets on fine with young team mate Jenson Button, and that's according to the 1997 World Champion himself. Despite the general impression of tension within the BAR pit garage, the outspoken Villeneuve insisted at the Circuit de Catalunya that media have been overstating any problems with the relationship.

The story started over the off-season with reports that the BAR team mates had put up barriers between their testing garages and refused to talk to one another.

Villeneuve then slammed Button as F1's equivalent of a 'boy band' while Button hit back, claiming Villeneuve was little more than a 'has been' at BAR.

"It's never been really bad," said Jacques at Barcelona. "There's been a lot written during the winter, but in general there's not much to talk about in the off-season so if there's a tiny little spark of something everyone will jump on it."

Pitpass.com's snapper caught the pair chatting at Barcelona over the weekend, although rumours that Jenson was caught giving Jacques the two-finger salute were probably overstated.

It seems that Jacques getting happier at BAR. "Right now the car is going in the right direction," said Villeneuve. "The team has progressed on the technical side and I am happy to be driving here."

It remains to be seen if there's a seat for him. David Richards has three talented drivers on contract for 2004, but will be keen to keep Villeneuve just as long as his retainer drops. With Jacques' manager Craig Pollock stating he'll go for a performance related pay deal next year, it looks likely that JV will stay.