The 2003 season promises to be a crucial year for the revamped BAR team, and a make or break one for their Canadian driver Jacques Villeneuve. The atmosphere in the squad from Brackley, however, seems to be far from optimal, and the former World Champion has already stated he is not impressed by his new teammate Jenson Button. Atlas F1's Graham Holliday analyses how the situation at BAR is likely to develop

A bold move at the right time can make all the difference in a game of poker, even when the cards are stacked against you. Dave Richards and Jacques Villeneuve played out their own game of bluff and counter bluff mid-2002 which ended with no real winners. New team boss Richards knew the deck had already been stacked in favour of the Canadian by former team boss and Villeneuve manager Craig Pollock. The fact he chose to play his hand anyway and in such a public manner spoke volumes about the situation at BAR in 2002. The end of the game saw Villeneuve continuing to command an inflated salary and Richards having to budget for it. No change there then.

Change, and change is what is needed, can only come in 2004 when the decks will finally be cleared of all the detritus Richards wants to shed. Jacques himself is under no illusions. "I will need a good season (in 2003) if I want to get a contract with another team the year after," he said at Monza last season, "because it is obvious that I will not be wanted here." The hole that Villeneuve has dug for himself has taken four years to create with little in the way of points or podiums to show for it along the way. 2003 will see the man from Montreal begin his fifth successive season with his fourth teammate at the Brackley team and perhaps his last in Grand Prix racing.

The off-season has seen Jacques dispensing his opinions on everything and everybody to anyone who will listen. Jaguar rookie Pizzonia and ex-Minardi man Mark Webber got theirs, "Let's be honest, even Colin McRae couldn't do much worse than the drivers currently at Jaguar." Ferrari got a bucketload, "What he (Schumacher) and Ferrari combined to achieve together this year just made a mockery of everything in Formula One." And there weren't many others who walked away unscathed; Montoya - "to be avoided", Massa - "worst driver out there", Fisichella - "a bad one", and Coulthard - "he's blown it."

If Jacques Villeneuve's intention is to set himself up as the 'bad guy' of Formula One in his swan song year he's certainly making a good job of laying the groundwork. As for mild-mannered Jenson Button, the man who will partner the outspoken driver-come-restaurant-owner he'll need to watch his back: "I guess Button will bring youth to the team, but not experience as he hasn't got much." At least Villeneuve managed to keep a hat on the vitriol for the remainder of last season, "We get along. That is very important because it is never enjoyable to be around somebody you don't like," he told BBC Radio 5 as the Button signing became public. However the recent BAR launch saw the gloves finally coming off and Jacques in full flow, "I will respect him when he goes fast on the racetrack because that is the only way you respect another race car driver at all. If he steps things up from his first three years then yes (I will respect him). If not, no."

For his part Button was dismissive, offering a practical approach, "I am not here to earn Jacques' respect, I am here to win and move the team forward. We are not going to move the team forward if we start getting petty and arguing about things. You just need to work together and not keep secrets from each other. When we are winning, then we can be very competitive teammates."

Richards made no bones about where his loyalties lie, "It will be nice for members of the team to be able to lean over the garden fence and say I work for the team that runs Jenson Button. That has motivated the team."

As for the former World Champion’s feelings towards BAR, they are a little more complex. For the moment he is upbeat, "There's a whole new group of technical people working on it and the numbers on the car look amazing, so we should make a big leap forward," he said. "For once the expectations are high and basically realistic, whereas in the past, every time we had expectations we were hoping for Christmas and it never happened." To make an impression the 31-year old will have to start racking up the points early on if BAR are to finish higher than last seasons eighth place.

Button won't be able to sit back either unless he wants a repeat of the mauling he received at the hands of Giancarlo Fisichella in the Benetton team in 2001. Villeneuve has a reputation for toying with teammates. He said he had "absolutely no respect" for 1999-2000 teammate Ricardo Zonta and according to Williams's technical director Patrick Head, Heinz-Harald Frentzen was confounded by his antics when he partnered him at the Grove-based team in 1998.

"Quite often, up until Saturday just before qualifying, everybody in the team would think that Heinz-Harald was going to be the driver that reached the highest position and Jacques seemed to be struggling, " said Head. "Somehow between Jock Clear (his engineer) and Jacques, they'd pump each other up and come up with the goods on Saturday afternoon. And that used to certainly concern Heinz-Harald."

If Button ever needed an Agony Aunt to cope with a prickly Villeneuve he might think twice about turning to Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya: "Jenson is a guy who is very, very, very fragile in the head. He will be quicker than Jacques in every single test and when they get to the first race, Jacques will probably outqualify him by a second or something. Typical Jacques." Ex-Karting rival and two-time Minardi stand-in Anthony Davidson doesn't fancy his chances either, "I really would not want to be in his shoes," said Davidson. "He knows this year is going to be tough. It will be interesting to see how he copes because Villeneuve will be on it. He needs to get the team around him because that is the only way he will get on."

And this is Button's trump card, the team will be around him. Reportedly, when the two-year deal - with options for a further two years - was announced at the Brackley factory in July a roar of appreciation went up. Dave Richards sees the 23-year old as a long-term asset to the team and Villeneuve as a costly hangover from the Pollock years. Button will be given an element of leeway to settle in, but there's no way Villeneuve will be leaving Formula One without attempting to pummel his new teammate and everyone else on the track into the ground. A fired up Jacques is a match for any driver in Formula One both on and off the track. The internal tussles of 2002 could well seem like a children's tea party compared to what might emanate from Brackley this season.

The BAR 005 has just made its first appearance in Barcelona and there are already rumours that the balance of power is shifting in favour of the newcomer with its arrival. The launch saw Button drive the car on stage, not Villeneuve, Button dominated the video presentation, not Villeneuve and Button was still on stage with test driver Sato and Davidson long after the Canadian had left the scene. Recent tests at Jerez saw Button trying out the latest Honda power plant, while Villeneuve was not given that chance. Added to this the 1997 World Champion didn't utter so much as a word to his new driving partner and according to recent reports still hasn’t. His out of favour status in the team was later summed up by BAR test driver Davidson, "It's good to have Jenson and Taku here because at least we will have three of us who get on next year. Let's just hope he (Villeneuve) doesn't upset things."

The Canadian certainly adds a bit of much needed spice to the paddock. He's just not wanted anymore at BAR, that's all. Dave Richards tried his one and only canny poker move to get rid of him - it failed - and he has no cards left to play. The only option, or at least the cheapest one, left is to sit out the year waiting for the Canadian to leave. For his part, Pollock would love to see his future elsewhere anyway. He tried to seal a reported three-year $50 million deal with CART series Player's-Forsythe team co-owner Gerald Forsythe in August last year, but that fell through. Pollock wanted $57 million according to reports. With Pollock having just bought the PK Racing CART outfit and racing in the series come February 23rd this year, it is highly likely that he will manage to lure the Canadian stateside if nothing more palatable is put on the Formula One table at the end of 2003.

More recently he had his sights set on a more mouthwatering prospect, "Jacques belongs on one of the top four teams," said Pollock. "What I'd like to see is Schumacher and Villeneuve together - not for Jacques or for Schumacher but for the sport." However crowd inducing that partnership might be, nobody is expecting to see it anytime soon.