Jacques Villeneuve

The Brazilian was replaced by experienced Frenchman Olivier Panis. For the race Villeneuve shared the No. Towards the end of the season his pace improved and he scored more points at Belgium where he finiJacques Villeneuved sixth moving ahead of Massa in the championship tables although Massa repassed him after finishing 6th in the season finale in China.

Jacques Villeneuve won the 1995 CART Championship the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and the 1997 Formula One World Championship making him only the third driver after Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi to achieve such a feat. To date no other Canadian has won the Indianapolis 500 or the F1 Drivers' title. Following two successful years in CART Villeneuve moved into Formula One with the front running Williams team alongside Damon Hill.