Villeneuve's brilliant dive down the inside of the Ferrari won the day while Schumacher was roundly castigated for trying to run his rival off the road. The defending world champion had a quiet 1998 after
Renault's pull out, placing fifth in the championship.
For 1999 he moved to BAR, the team set up by his manager and mentor Craig Pollock. The first year was an embarrassing failure as Villeneuve failed to score points. But matters improved greatly in 2000 as Jacques raced hard to seventh place in the world championship after a sequence of gritty drives.
2001 is make or break year for Villeneuve and BAR. The team needs to provide the kind of car that will convince Villeneuve his long-term future lies with BAR. He needs to re-establish his credentials as a driver in the same class as Schumacher and Hakkinen.