JUNE 16, 1997

Jacques's trip to Paris

JACQUES VILLENEUVE received a reprimand from the FIA World Motor Sports Council last week for comments he made in the German magazine Der Spiegel. The FIA stressed that it was not trying to stop Jacques from having opinions but rather to stop him expressing them in an offensive way. The council said that criticism is fine if it is done in a dignified and responsible manner and not using short, sharp four letter words.

Villeneuve agreed that the words used were inappropriate but argued that they had been probably been mistranslated by the journalist who had written the article.

Jacques was warned that he will face serious sanction if the same happens again in the future. As soon as the meeting was over Villeneuve flew back to Canada on a Challenger private jet made available to him by Canadair, the company which builds the planes.