The United States Grand Prix could be Jacques Villeneuve's farewell F1 race in front of his North American fans, at a track where he won the prestigious Indy 500 only 8 years ago. But, if the Canadian ends up without a race seat by this time next month, much of the blame for the destruction of his career ought to be apportioned to himself directly. Atlas F1's Will Gray explains why

Formula One is set to be left with one World Champion less among its ranks, in just two races time if 1997 title holder Jacques Villeneuve completes a season of trial and torment at BAR-Honda by being thrown out door with damaged pride.

Canadian Villeneuve was once seen as the great new hope of Formula One - with his trendy look, outspoken personality and obvious wheel-to-wheel racing aggression. But if he does bow out in Suzuka, it seems, he can blame primarily himself for the way the situation had developed.

Roll back two years to the controversy that saw David Richards arrive at BAR-Honda in a slick trick as smooth as a piece of David Blaine street magic and you can immediately see the beginning of the breakdown which has now manifested itself in an apparently irreversible manner.

Villeneuve, bewildered and bemused after a late night phone call to tell him the news that his long-time manager and BAR founder Craig Pollock had been ousted by the team, could not help but have a dig at the timing of the decision and the public display of a team in crisis.

Villeneuve offered Richards nothing more than a cool welcome, after posing for photographs following a hasty breakfast meeting with his new boss at the team's factory in Brackley, and said that "only time will tell" if the change was the right move.

"There wasn't much time for a reaction actually," Villeneuve added back then. "It was done very quickly but it's probably better this way, not too much time to get happy or angry. Every change is unsettling. This one is definitely the most difficult for me to digest."

Richards immediately got to work on Villeneuve's psyche, be it deliberately or not. His first move was to publicly reveal negotiations over Villeneuve's salary that, to him, seemed extortionate. Moreover, there were very public comments made by Richards, Pollock and Villeneuve over apparent efforts to reduce the price for Villeneuve's services, but Pollock had ensured long before that Villeneuve was well set up and that his contract was non-negotiable.

Suggestions that Richards could send Villeneuve back to CART did not go down well, and his decision at the 2002 French Grand Prix to sign Jenson Button - a long-time family friend - to partner Villeneuve was another pill that was tough to swallow.

Despite Villeneuve's having a confirmed contract for the following year, it was Button who was unveiled, on his own, as BAR-Honda's first confirmed driver for 2003 in a Japanese bar in the heart of London. Villeneuve's, once again, was not invited to the party.

But two years on from the arrival of Richards, BAR are growing stronger, leading the race for the "best of the rest" title behind Williams, Ferrari, McLaren and Renault; a team that has the full backing of Honda and is now reciprocating that backing after the Japanese company got their act together.

Over the same period of time, Villeneuve's voice against the team has grown stronger, his gibes have become more pointed and his car's mechanical failures have been taken as a personal attack, apparently an internal effort to hamper his performance and make teammate Jenson Button shine the brighter star.

Such claims, though not directly presented but more implied by Villeneuve during the season, are clearly not appropriate nor particularly likely, as it is unthinkable that BAR-Honda would sacrifice vital points just to terminally damage Villeneuve's career.

But then allegations - coming from an insider in a high level position at the BAR-Honda team who wished to remain anonymous - that Villeneuve's manager and team shareholder Pollock has been contributing to his driver's downfall by attempting to ensure the team fails under new boss Richards, would seem unthinkable too.

According to the insider, Villeneuve was warned earlier this season that Pollock was "a bad egg" and that the Canadian driver was told to ask him to stay away from races, after the British Grand Prix in July.

"Craig is trying to poison this team," the source claimed, talking to Atlas F1. "You would not believe what he has been trying to do to make sure this team cannot succeed without him. Jacques was told some time ago but did not believe it. He is now starting to realise."

Richards refused to offer the team's official view on the matter, while Pollock himself strongly denied the allegations, which have also linked him to businessman France Corbeil's attempts to impound the BAR-Honda cars at both the Monaco and French Grands Prix over an unpaid debt for introducing a sponsor to the team during Pollock's reign.

The Scot - who is involved with a consortium that recently bought up the struggling CART series in the United States and has not appeared at any race since the British Grand Prix - believes that personal differences between himself and Richards could be a concern but said he still has the best interests of the team at heart.

"I have already cut myself out of the team but I built it up with my hand on the reigns and it is still in my interest to make it work," Pollock said. "It is not easy for David Richards having me around because as an ex-team principal I have lots of close ties and loyalties. Lots of people talk to me so it is a bit of a thorn in the side of the current management. Some people in the team may have something against me.

"But I want the team to work and I give it direction as a shareholder. The better the team works the better the chance of success in the future. It is not a question of sour grapes - all that was done a year ago. I am getting on with my life now."

So, too, is Villeneuve. But it seems that in the very near future the life he will be getting on with is not actually the one he wants to be in. He refuses to comment on the rumours, speculation and accusations over the apparent different factions within the team, but his time is now running out.

His contract, and his estimated £13 million (Pounds) salary, concludes at the end of the season and this weekend's United States Grand Prix could be his final farewell to his fans in North America. Even the rumoured intervention of Bernie Ecclestone, it seems, cannot halt his slide.

He has only scored six points this season, for sixth places in both the rain-hit Brazilian Grand Prix in April and the recent Italian Grand Prix earlier this month. That took his total to a paltry 39 points since his arrival at Pollock's BAR team in 1999 and their subsequent years of struggle.

It remains in question, however, whether it is BAR that have ruined Villeneuve or Villeneuve himself. Claiming pole position on his debut and becoming Champion after just 33 starts are feats that even new hot shots Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya could not manage. But he has done little since.

He accelerated his downfall this season, or reacted to its initiation, by shooting from the lip regularly, failing to perform on the track when given the chance, including two particularly notable spins in the one-lap qualifying sessions, and generally expressing apparent contempt for the team.

Around the paddock he wears the appearance of a beach bum, with an open shirt, long Bermuda shorts and flip-flops. Even in official press conferences his BAR-Honda team shirt remains unbuttoned and he only covers his colour-changing crop of hair with a team cap when forced.

It has now become a paddock assumption that the BAR-Honda driver announcement, expected in Japan, will reveal Japanese test driver Takuma Sato as the team's partner for British figurehead driver Jenson Button next season. And right now it seems Villeneuve has nowhere else to go.

Richards remains typically cryptic when discussing the driver situation, one day suggesting a decision is made, another claiming a driver shoot-out "would be a good idea". His varying answers to the same question mean that it wouldn't be a surprise if he said this weekend that they will just run Button next year.

Even so, he claims to be committed to hearing 32-year-old Villeneuve out about his future and said: "We want to get Jacques performing and see if he can come up to the mark. Everyone would be foolish to write him off even at this stage of the season.

"I think that there wouldn't be anyone in the team, if he performed to his full potential, who would not wish him to be with us next year. But I think he has come to realise that his relationship problems in the team stem from other quarters."

To add to speculation over Villeneuve's future, BAR-Honda even released a 16-page booklet, entitled 'Front Jacques' and filled with pictures and quotes from the former world champion, ahead of what could be his final United States Grand Prix.

"The thoughts that come to us are worth more than the ones we seek...," said the epitaph from French philosopher Joseph Joubert on the back cover of the booklet. What worth to Villeneuve the true thoughts of Richards will be, it appears, will not come when sought but only when revealed.