OCTOBER 15, 2001

Villeneuve's Danish retreat

Jacques Villeneuve will be spending much of the enforced winter break at his new fiancee's side in Copenhagen, Denmark, he has revealed.

JACQUES VILLENEUVE will be spending much of the enforced winter break at his new fiancee's side in Copenhagen, Denmark, he has revealed. The besotted pair announced their engagement between the US and Japanese Grands Prix after a whirlwind three month romance.

Jacques' golden girl is Ellie Green, and doubtless the 1997 world champion is eager to catch up with her after BAR boss Craig Pollock allegedly banned her from Suzuka. Pollock was much dismayed by an all-time low in the team's performance at Indianapolis, where Villeneuve's mindset was not helped by the presence of his wife-to-be... and he even leapt out of the car in the middle of qualifying to be near her.

Ellie - who Villeneuve met through his sister Melanie - lives in Copenhagen, where she is a member of the Royal Danish Ballet and JV clearly can't wait to be back by her side. "It has definitely not been a fun year," he said in Japan. "So I am looking forward to having the break with no testing until January. The holiday starts now and I will be in Denmark for a good bit of it."