Thursday March 28th, 2002

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve hopes the changes his British American Racing team underwent last week will help them move forward this season.

Engineering director Malcolm Oastler and chief designer Andy Green left the Brackley-based squad last week, and team boss David Richards said that some 15 percent of the workforce also faced the axe as the he tries to rectify their difficult situation.

BAR, who finished in sixth place in last year's Constructors' Championship, are yet to score a point this season, but Villeneuve is hoping that will change soon following last week's reshuffle.

"This has been a very difficult and disappointing start to the season, but I am confident that the changes mean we will be heading in the right direction, although only time will tell," said Villeneuve.

"There is no point in looking back, we now have to look forward and work on improving our car and the whole way we operate."

The Canadian driver, however, revealed he was not confident of seeing a big step forward from his team at this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix.

"We aren't expecting to see any massive improvements in Brazil but hopefully by Imola the results will start to show," he added. "In terms of the race itself, I'm not that fond of Interlagos. The circuit has character but is not high up on my list of favourites."

Published at 11:20:12 GMT