Wednesday January 26th, 2000

Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve has warned BMW-Williams new boy Jenson Button that he faces a huge step up when he races in Formula One.

Villeneuve, who won the world title with Williams in 1997, says that Button's F3 experience will be of limited help in Grand Prix racing. "It's tougher than he's ever imagined - I'm not sure he knows what he's letting himself in for," said the Canadian. "Now the speed feels normal, but the first time you race in F1 everything just comes at you. Your heartbeat goes up 20 or 30 beats you're thinking so much about what to do rather than just getting on with it. A Formula One race also lasts four times longer than a Formula Three race and is 10 times more physical."

Villeneuve, who won the Indy Car title before moving to F1, said he understood why Williams were taking a risk on the rookie. "If it looks like they are going to have a very bad year because the engine is not up to it then they might as well take someone without experience," he said. "In that sense it's logical because no experienced good driver would go there in that situation."

In the mean time, Button was quoted at 200-1 by British bookmaker William Hill to win the 2000 world championship after he joined the BMW-Williams team on Monday. The 20-year-old was 20-1 to win a grand prix this season. Other world title odds announced were: Michael Schumacher 6-5, Mika Hakkinen 11-8, David Coulthard 11-2, Rubens Barrichello 12-1, Heinz Harald Frentzen 20-1, Eddie Irvine 25-1, Ralf Schumacher 33-1.