Villeneuve plays down Green rumours.

Jacques Villeneuve claims to know nothing about the stories linking his former CART boss to a role with British American Racing next year.

Speaking at a specially arranged press conference to mark the return of the USGP, Villeneuve deflected questions rumouring Barry Green's possible switch to Formula One next season, insisting that he was happy with the current set-up at BAR.

''I had a great time with Barry in '94 and '95,'' he said, ''and I'm sure I could have a great time with him again. But, at the same time, I'm having a great time working with the people I'm working with now. So I wouldn't want to change them. I think there's been a lot written about [the move] but, honestly, I haven't seen anything from the inside. So I'm not sure where it's coming from.

''I think the team is doing fine. The team has been progressing quite a lot, so there's no need for change. But this team has had a lot of political, internal problems, mostly last year. It's been much better this year. I think it's just last year that's coming back and coming out a little bit. Talks have been happening, but I have no idea how much truth there is to that as I'm really not involved in them.''

Villeneuve was plucked from Japanese Formula Three to spearhead Green's assault on the 1993 Toyota Atlantic series in America, before graduating with the ex-pat Australian to CART a year later. Success in the Indianapolis 500 and the PPG Cup then paved the way for his move to Formula One, initially with Williams and, latterly, BAR. Whilst a world championship followed in 1997, Villeneuve admits that the move to BAR has not been exactly fruitful.

''Well, of course it's not easy after winning to not be winning for a while, but most difficult was '99, when we weren't finishing races,'' he claimed, ''I think I finished only two or three races in the whole season without the car breaking down; and halfway during the season, we didn't see any progress. We started the season better than we finished it. That was very difficult because a lot of energy was put into the project before it started; and then during the season we worked really, really hard and progress wasn't happening.

''But, then, as soon as the new car arrived, it felt like a big improvement. And all season we've been able to work with it and to get better. That's been important. We've been able to do a lot of laps and the team has been working hard as well. So, ultimately, in the season we've been getting better and better which brings back how racing used to be, even before I started winning. So even though we haven't been winning, it's actually getting on the right track and the future is looking very good.

''For next year, well, Honda will be working hard, of course. That's their first season back after quite a few years. And the engine is strong, it doesn't fail. The only problem I had was last race and sadly that's the race we were the most competitive in - the engine chose the wrong weekend to do something funny. But, apart from that, most of the season the car and the engine have been very reliable. It should only get better next year and hopefully we'll have a more competitive car.''

Villeneuve is the only driver in the current F1 field to have raced at Indianapolis before this weekend.