By FIA
May 19 2005

Jacques Villeneuve answers questions at the FIA's Wednesday press conference before the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix which will take place this Sunday. Q: Jacques, looking back at the season so far, how do you see it?

Jacques Villeneuve: Well, I am very happy that there was Imola because if not it would have been very difficult to be here now. We seem to have a good pace in the race but have a hard time to qualify the car, unless we are on soft tyres like Imola, so this track could work better than Barcelona.

Q: Do you feel you have chased away some of the problems you had at the start of the season?

JV: Yeah, we have worked a lot with the team and we have evolved the car to a position that suits me better and also the team understands what I need to drive the car. We have been having new aerodynamic bits during the season that have helped a lot also.

Q: This is a bit of a one-off as a race, one that you haven’t always necessarily got on well with, how do you see the season as a whole progressing now, and what is you’re aim for the end of the season?

JV: It is difficult to have an aim. As long as we can have a few good races, like Imola, then I think we will be alright. What we don’t want is to keep having races like Barcelona. Any track where you need hard tyres, I think, we will be in trouble.

Q: Which are, looking forward?

JV: I didn’t go through the races but the ones that are coming should be soft-ish tyres, Nurburgring and also tracks where you have long straight lines where normally you overheat tyres, those should suit us.

Q: So you are quite hopeful for certain races, anyway?

JV: Yeah, I think there are a few races where we can do something good if we work well, but at the moment we still lack a bit of pace.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR:

Q: (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) The last time Michael Schumacher went six races without winning was ‘96/’97. He has now not won for the last six races, counting the last race of last year. What do you think of this? Is it the downfall of Ferrari? Is it Michael maybe losing a bit of his edge or is it just a short period of uncompetitiveness?

DC: I think it is quite clear for everyone that it’s more to do with tyres than anything else. I think Imola would show that. It’s a long season. You can only write the ‘Downfall of Ferrari’ chapter once you get to the end of the season, if they’re still struggling, and even then, maybe we have to say that the tyres were clearly a bigger factor. I don’t think he is losing his edge.

JV: David is right.