Villeneuve unwilling to be Ferrari No 2

Jacques Villeneuve admitted yesterday that he would consider driving for Ferrari one day – but only if Michael Schumacher is not there. The 1997 world champion is desperate to get back into a winning car after his difficult years with British American Racing and he has been linked with Formula 1's most famous team several times in the past, especially as his father Gilles drove for them until his death at the Belgium Grand Prix 20 years ago.

"Every driver wants to be in a winning team and Ferrari are the winning team at the moment," Villeneuve said as he began preparations for his home race here on Sunday. "If I had the chance to drive for Ferrari one day, it would certainly be a very interesting offer. But it would depend if Michael was still there or not.

"I would not join a team if I was going to be told to make way for Michael at some stage. I could have had team orders imposed in my contract at BAR but I wouldn't do that. At BAR we race against each other."

Villeneuve hit out at Schumacher after the German was gifted victory in Austria last month when his Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello was ordered to move over for him. The 31-year-old said Schumacher should have acted like a man and refused to accept the victory.

There is little likelihood of Villeneuve, who clinched the world title with Williams after surviving Schumacher's attempt to ram him off the track in their title decider, joining Ferrari for the foreseeable future.

Villeneuve is contracted to BAR until the end of next season, while Schumacher and Barrichello are tied to Ferrari until the end of the 2004 campaign.

Schumacher, the most successful driver in Canadian Grand Prix history with victories in 1994, 1997, 1998 and 2000 as well as three second places, is ready to mark another milestone this weekend. After finishing second in Monaco to McLaren's David Coulthard, Ferrari's four-times world champion is favourite to chalk up the 150th win of his team's evocative Formula One history.