SEPTEMBER 15, 2004

Now that is a comeback!

When Jacques Villeneuve left Formula 1 a year ago he went out without even a whimper following the decision by Lucky Strike BAR Honda to sign Takuma Sato as Jenson Button's team mate in 2004. That happened on the Tuesday before the Japanese Grand Prix, prompting Villeneuve's decision the following day not to race at Suzuka. Since then he has sat on the F1 sidelines, watching developments and looking for a way to get back into the sport. There was talk of various possible deals but none of them seemed very serious but then in the last few weeks things have accelerated dramatically and yesterday Villeneuve signed a two-year deal with Sauber. Later in the day he showed up at Renault F1 in Britain and did a seat fitting so that he could replace Jarno Trulli with the Enstone team for the rest of the year. Two F1 deals on the same day is a pretty impressive achievement.