Tokyo, Oct 10: Jacques Villeneuve quits BAR. Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve may have driven his last Formula One race after quitting BAR on Thursday (October 9) before the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix. The team said Japanese test driver Takuma Sato, the man who was to have replaced the Canadian in 2004, would step in -- a move likely to see a late rush of local fans to the Suzuka ticket office. Team boss David Richards said he had received a call from Villeneuve's manager Craig Pollock informing him that the Canadian did not want to drive. "I was travelling down here on the bullet train this morning and I received a call from Craig Pollock informing me that Jacques wanted to be released from his contractual obligations," he told reporters. "I've agreed to this. If somebody doesn't want to drive, they don't want to drive and so Takuma will be driving on Sunday."


Sato finished fifth for Jordan on his home debut last year, a result that had thousands of fans still chanting his name hours after the finish.


"This was not what I was expecting for this weekend," commented Sato, who knows the Suzuka circuit better than any other and has completed more than 7,000 km of testing for the team this year.


"I cannot express how excited I am to be making my debut for BAR in front of my home crowd. It is going to be pretty crazy, but I am confident that I can do a good job."


BAR announced on Tuesday that Sato would replace the 1997 champion in 2004, a decision that left the Canadian out in the cold with no drive lined up for next year.


"Jacques is extremely disappointed not to be staying with the team next year and he simply felt that his heart would not be in it for the coming weekend," said Pollock in a joint statement with BAR.


Villeneuve's spokeswoman, who travelled to Suzuka, said the 32-year-old was in Tokyo and would be leaving Japan later on Thursday.


The top teams have no vacancies and Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone said this week that none were interested in the maverick Canadian, whose earnings were second only to Michael Schumacher's.


Barring a surprise comeback or unlikely late offer, history will record that his last race was a retirement in the September 28 U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis -- the circuit where he won the Indy 500 in 1995.


Son of the late Ferrari great Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques last won a race in 1997 and last scored a point with sixth place in Italy in September.


The Canadian has scored just six points this year and BAR are in urgent need of more in a tight battle for fifth place with Sauber, Jaguar and Toyota. The team are sixth, level with Jaguar and a point behind Sauber.


Briton Jenson Button, Villeneuve's team mate at BAR who has scored twice as many points, said Sato faced a tough weekend.


"Hopefully, Taku will do a good job and the pressure won't get to him," he said. "It's disappointing that he (Villeneuve) won't be here for his final race.


"But things change. He's been there five years and had ups and down. It's disappointing to see him leave Formula One."


Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, who tried to run the Canadian off the track in a 1997 title-deciding race that saw Villeneuve crowned and the German condemned, chose his words carefully when asked about his old foe in a news conference.



"I think that he was quite strong," he said.


Bureau Report