Young Canadian drivers hoping to replace Jacques Villeneuve

There may be no Jacques Villeneuve or any other Canadians in this year's Canadian Grand Prix, but there is no shortage of young talented drivers in Canada as a look at the Formula BMW USA series will show.

Daniel Morad, Jeffrey Petriello, Yannick Hoffman, Philip Major and Maxime Pelletier are some of the promising talents in the Formula BMW USA series who come from Canada.

"North America doesn't really have a strong formula car presence. It's more sports cars and NASCAR, basically," Morad said. "But it's going to be difficult. Not a lot of people respect North Americans as race car drivers, so you really have to go over to Europe and perform. You have to show people what you have so they respect you."

Of course, drivers need sponsors willing to foot the bill for them to compete in Europe and Petriello said that is actually the biggest challenge for a Canadian driver.

"To replace Jacques Villeneuve in Formula One will be tough," he said. "It's always a question of sponsors. It's the driver who shows up at the right time and knows the right people who will be able to break through."

Villeneuve hits out at Hamilton tactics

1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve says Lewis Hamilton’s start-line tactics are beginning to remind him of Michael Schumacher.

Villeneuve, who left the BMW-Sauber team and the sport mid-way through the 2006 season, was among the most outspoken critics of Schumacher’s tendency to ‘chop’ his rivals on the dash to the first corner at races.

And “Lewis is not getting penalised” either, Canadian Villeneuve marvelled to the British print magazine Autosport.

Villeneuve said McLaren’s Hamilton has therefore been “lucky” to avoid the stewards’ wrath, and suggested that his popularity might be one explanation for why he is getting away with it.

Kubica not sorry about Villeneuve absence

Robert Kubica says he is not nervous about racing in Montreal this year, after taking Canadian favourite Jacques Villeneuve’s seat at BMW-Sauber.

Former world champion Villeneuve split with BMW last season mere weeks after competing at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which is named in honour of his late and legendary father.

But although the separation was in ex-tester Kubica’s favour, the rookie Pole refused to treat the subject carefully in conversation with the Canadian newspaper National Post ahead of his return to Montreal in 2007.