Thursday March 7th, 2002

British American Racing driver Jacques Villeneuve says he would like to see 25 Formula One Grands Prix each season.

Formula One team bosses, as well as FIA president Max Mosley and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, will hold a meeting on March 19 aimed at discussing different proposals to reduce the costs in Grand Prix racing.

Among those proposals, former World Champion Villeneuve says they should discuss the possibility of a two-day Grand Prix, limiting the running to only Saturday and Sunday.

"More races and less testing would mean the same mileage on the cars and the same costs, but more publicity and more fun for everyone," Villeneuve said. "I think the idea of a two-day weekend is great. If that was the case I would like to see 25 races a year."

The Canadian driver also believes that pre-race testing should be limited, despite many teams complaining about the lack of mileage they suffered this year as a consequence of the ban imposed by the FIA last season. The teams were not allowed to carry out on-track testing until January this year.

"We have too much testing and not enough racing," Villeneuve added. "We could have three races a month and then two weeks off - three races in a row then 10 days off with no testing. It would be better for sponsors because they don't get any publicity out of testing. The place they get it is from racing and the television coverage."

However, at the end of last year, the FIA World Motor Sport Council confirmed that the 2001 testing ban was to be the last of its kind for the foreseeable future, meaning the teams will be able to test as much as they want in 2002.

Published at 14:33:26 GMT